Critical Cultural Awareness and Diversity in Nursing: A Minority Perspective

With the advent of globalization and migration, the significance of culture in our daily lives has become more acute. Cross-cultural interactions have grown exponentially; from multinational corporations to aviation, people from different cultures interact, some interactions more successful than others. These interactions have resultant outcomes, be they in the form of an efficient and successful business or the sentinel event of an aviation accident. A quick survey of any hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area alone will find great diversity, with more than 110 languages spoken.1 The increase in multicultural interactions in healthcare has made care provision more complicated. There has been much attention given to organizational culture, team development, and effective communication. Similarly, there is the call for patient-centered care, which must incorporate cultural needs and respect for patient wishes; providers must work on becoming “culturally competent.” Indeed, there is much attention given to the importance of culture. Yet, too frequently, one still encounters the reality of cultural ethnocentrism. It is especially disturbing when ethnocentrism rears its ugly head in healthcare.