Ann Marie Walsh Brennan

Cultural competency of graduating BSN nursing students.

ABSTRACT Providing culturally appropriate care is an essential nursing competency for new graduates. Multiple curricular approaches are being used to achieve this end. When measured by Campinha‐Bacotes Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competency Among Healthcare Professionals‐R®, graduating students (n = 515) from six different BSN programs scored, on average, in the culturally aware range. These results suggest that no one curricular approach is proving to be more effective than another in achieving essential cultural competency.

CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN THE UNDERGRADUATE NURSING CURRICULUM

More demands are being put on nursing faculty to incorporate content related to cultural competence in the undergraduate curriculum. Adding more content into an already full curriculum and becoming proficient at teaching cultural competence throughout the curriculum are challenging to nursing faculty. In addition, identifying personal bias to ensure that students are prepared to deliver culturally sensitive care requires a certain amount of self-awareness of personal prejudice. The purpose of this article is to present the implementation of the newly developed Blueprint for Integration of Cultural Competence in the Curriculum (BICCC) into an undergraduate nursing curriculum as a framework for teaching cultural competence in an undergraduate nursing curriculum. This will include defining culture and cultural competence as they relate to teaching, presenting educational standards of cultural competence in accrediting agencies, presenting level objectives for learning cultural competent information, describing a curriculum incorporating cultural competence in an undergraduate nursing program, and providing examples of implementation of cultural competence teaching strategies for nursing faculty.

The Paradigm Shift

This article examines current trends in nursing education and proposes undergraduate curriculum changes that are needed to meet the needs and goals of the Institute of Medicine Report: The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health, and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Curricular changes were developed and implemented during the development of the Affordable Care Act, the Future of Nursing Initiative report, and the Carnegie Report on Undergraduate Nursing Education. The changes will continue to evolve dynamically and are presented here for consideration.

Student Perceptions of Cultural Competence Content in the Curriculum

The 31-item Blueprint for Integration of Cultural Competence in the Curriculum (BICCC) was used as an organizing framework and an evaluative tool to survey student perceptions of inclusion of cultural-specific content in undergraduate and graduate courses. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to complete this survey, which provided definitive information about the strengths and deficiencies of the curriculum initiative. Findings show that faculty made considerable progress with the curriculum integrative efforts. With responses of sometimes to quite often on the BICCC survey, 90% of the masters, 87% of senior, and 25% of first-semester freshmen participants reported a sufficient level of teaching in response to the survey items on aspects of culture and health. For all cohorts, the survey showed that content related to critique of health disparities research and theoretical formulation about culture, health, and nursing were not sufficiently addressed. Open-ended comments showed that freshmen reported a solid foundation of culturally related courses in arts and humanities courses; seniors disclosed a high level of knowledge about aspects of culture competence; and masters participants had high levels of self-awareness about values, cultural beliefs, and challenges of cross-cultural communication. The BICCC provided substantial information for faculty to address areas of omission, deficiency, and redundancy in the cultural competence education.

Cultural Competence in the Master's Curriculum-A Course Exemplar

This article focuses on the teaching-learning strategies for integration of cultural competence in the first clinical core course in Primary Care of the Middle Aged and Older Adult, a required course for graduate students enrolled in the Adult Health Nurse Practitioner Program, Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Program, and the Family Health Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Multiple teaching-learning strategies for the first clinical course consisted of preliminary online self-assessment, clinical case scenarios, critique of multicultural clinical vignettes, and cultural assessment of the clinical agency. In the outcomes of these teaching-learning strategies, it was shown, through the use of reflective diaries of nurse practitioner students and course evaluations, that the multiple strategic approaches were effective for cultural competence integration within each of the nurse practitioner programs.

A typology of residential fire survivors' multidimensional needs.

This article presents an analysis of the tangible, psychological, and general needs of adults and their children reported by residential fire survivors approximately 14 weeks postfire. Three hundred and seven survivors, who identified that they needed help for themselves or their children, differed from 133 survivors who did not request help. Those needing help were more likely to be women with children younger than age 18 living in their household, have low-income status, less education, and to have already received services from church groups. The classification of self-identified needs of fire survivors included the need for specific tangible and social service assistance, psychological and spiritual support, and nonspecific assistance. This classification contributes to our understanding of the relationship between needs and loss, grief, and changes in family and life situations postfire.

Cultural Competence in the Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum

More demands are being put on nursing faculty to incorporate content related to cultural competence in the undergraduate curriculum. Adding more content into an already full curriculum and becoming proficient at teaching cultural competence throughout the curriculum are challenging to nursing faculty. In addition, identifying personal bias to ensure that students are prepared to deliver culturally sensitive care requires a certain amount of self-awareness of personal prejudice. The purpose of this article is to present the implementation of the newly developed Blueprint for Integration of Cultural Competence in the Curriculum (BICCC) into an undergraduate nursing curriculum as a framework for teaching cultural competence in an undergraduate nursing curriculum. This will include defining culture and cultural competence as they relate to teaching, presenting educational standards of cultural competence in accrediting agencies, presenting level objectives for learning cultural competent information, describing a curriculum incorporating cultural competence in an undergraduate nursing program, and providing examples of implementation of cultural competence teaching strategies for nursing faculty.

SPECIAL SECTION: CUTURAL COMPETENCYCultural Competence in the Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum

More demands are being put on nursing faculty to incorporate content related to cultural competence in the undergraduate curriculum. Adding more content into an already full curriculum and becoming proficient at teaching cultural competence throughout the curriculum are challenging to nursing faculty. In addition, identifying personal bias to ensure that students are prepared to deliver culturally sensitive care requires a certain amount of self-awareness of personal prejudice. The purpose of this article is to present the implementation of the newly developed Blueprint for Integration of Cultural Competence in the Curriculum (BICCC) into an undergraduate nursing curriculum as a framework for teaching cultural competence in an undergraduate nursing curriculum. This will include defining culture and cultural competence as they relate to teaching, presenting educational standards of cultural competence in accrediting agencies, presenting level objectives for learning cultural competent information, describing a curriculum incorporating cultural competence in an undergraduate nursing program, and providing examples of implementation of cultural competence teaching strategies for nursing faculty.