Eliminating cultural bias in nursing examinations

Nursing program's enrollment reflects greater numbers of students for whom English is a second language. According to the National League for Nursing, approximately 32% of nursing students are from minority groups (National League of Nursing, 2012). The language diversity within the nursing student body provides challenges for the nursing faculty when developing nursing examinations. This article will discuss the need for nursing faculty to be mindful of the language used when creating nursing examinations that may lead to confusion for culturally diverse students. Focus should be placed on developing examinations that test discipline-specific concepts that do not rely on a student's familiarity with “colloquiums” and “expressions” to be successful. This article will provide recommendations for the development of testing committees composed of nursing faculty who are culturally sensitive and aware of cultural bias that may be present in nursing examinations. Case study exemplars and examples of culturally biased questions will be provided, and recommendations will be made to develop culturally neutral, discipline-specific examination.