Article offers nurses cultural competency tips

Nurses can improve care quality, patient outcomes and patient-staff relationships by demonstrating and increasing their cultural competencies, according to a Nurse.com article. Cultural competence in nursing is the practice of understanding another person’s cultural and religious beliefs, race, ethnicity, values, identity and using them to inform how to build relationships and provide care. Nurses first need to be aware that diversity exists among their patients to provide informed care free of bias, according to the article. Nurses can then use empathy to acknowledge an understanding of an individual’s feelings through unbiased communication and listening. Nurses should then develop their skills to provide culturally competent care and to demonstrate cultural competence with nurse colleagues. (Nurse.com article, 8/15/22)