Cultural Diversity and Patient Care

Knowledge of cultural diversity is key to all levels of the nursing practice. Knowledge and skills related to cultural diversity can strengthen and broaden health care delivery systems. “In 1986 the American Nursing Association (ANA) issued its first intention to strengthen cultural diversity programs in nursing” (Lowe & Archibald, 2009, p. 11). Despite good intentions made by nursing, progress in the area of cultural diversity has been slow and sporadic.
The change in the ethnic composition of the U.S. has challenged nurses to incorporate the needs of their patient into their daily nursing practice. Society expects todays nurse to be culturally competent. Earlier a focus was on transcultural nursing was to bring an understanding of the contrasts between the nurse’s own culture and of the patient. An early strategy to educate nurses about culture was to incorporate cultural education into the nursing curriculum and to have cultural questions on nursing boards and certification testing.
“The necessity in preparing and assisting nurse researchers and clinicians to be able to meet the health needs of culturally diverse population takes on a sense of urgency” (Lowe & Archibald, 2009, p. 15). Concepts of illness, health, and wellness are part of the total cultural belief system. Nurses need to understand; how cultural groups understand life process, how they define health and illness, what they do to maintain wellness, what they believe is the cause of illness, how healers cure and care for their members, and how the cultural background of the nurse influences the care that they provide.

We read in Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Holy Bible, King James Version). As Christians we should show God’s love to each and every one of our patients. This article titled “Cultural Diversity: The Intention of Nursing” can be found at http://onlinelibrary. wiley. com/doi/10. 1111/j. 1744-6198. 2009. 00122. x/abstracte .