Cultural competence is the ongoing process in which a health care professional continuously strives to achieve the ability to work effectively within the cultural context. To do this effectively, what must the nurse do?

Question

a. Understand the cultural norms of the pa-tient's community.
b. See herself or himself as being culturally competent.
c. Face the reality that cultural competence can take up to a year to achieve.
d. View herself or himself as becoming cul-turally competent.

Answer 1

D
Cultural competence is the ongoing process in which a health care professional continuously strives to achieve the ability to work effectively within the cultural context of a patient (individ-ual, family, and community). There are a variety of models for how to acquire cultural compe-tence. One model requires nurses to see themselves as becoming culturally competent rather than being culturally competent. It is a developmental process that evolves over a lifetime. Cultural competence goes beyond just understanding cultural norms with a patient's community—this is only a component of competence.