Cultural competence for nurses is defined as the willingness or the desire to understand another person’s culture, the ability to learn about diverse cultural belief systems, and to work effectively as a healthcare professional. This includes, understanding the dynamics of a patient’s culture as it relates to their relationships, interactions, and understanding of overall health. Awareness of one’s own culture, along with the understanding of other cultures, and how this relates to nursing care is essential to improve outcomes for patients (Kardong-Edgren et al., 2010).
In 2010, the United States Census revealed that 37% of the population considered themselves to be minorities, and by 2020 this demographic will increase by 40%. The largest
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Although Connecticut’s demographic is predominantly white, non-Hispanic. The concentration of non-white minority groups is segregated to Connecticut’s urban cities, with 87% of the total States non-white ethnic populations living in urban areas. The organization is strongly committed to the community and provides many services for the underserved. The staff are required to participate in yearly competencies regrading cultural competence, but the organization realized that more focus needed to be given to specific education regarding minorities in the community. There is a Cultural Competence Task Force that focuses on way to increase diversity of the staff and continued improvement of cultural competence throughout the organization The task force implemented a lunch and learn series that discusses different cultures, values, and social norms. The task force has also concentrated their efforts on increasing the diversity of the nursing staff and senior leadership. The organization recognizes that more than 80% of nurses are white, non-Hispanics, and that diversity and cultural competence are crucial in providing safe patient-centered care (Clark, 2009).
Reflecting on my own cultural competence, I feel confident I am aware of the cultural differences in for my target population. Cultural competence is a journey, a series of events that occurs over the span of one’s career. I believe there is no end-point to searching out knowledge of other cultures and gaining understanding. It is through life experience that one learns of other cultures. Caring, empathy, understanding, treating others as you would want to be treated are attributes of my personal philosophy regarding cultural