Defense Date
7-18-2023
Graduation Date
Fall 12-15-2023
Submission Type
DNP Manuscript
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Department
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program
School
School of Nursing
Faculty Mentor
Manjulata Evatt
Committee Member
Mary Loughran
Committee Member
Frank Kosnosky
Committee Member
Catherine Johnson
Keywords
Cultural competence, cultural humility, cultural skill, cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, diversity, health care disparities, health equity and equality
Abstract
The need for a culturally competent healthcare workforce is increasing as diversity increases in the United States’ patient population. Cultural competence is necessary because it helps the healthcare provider to offer the best care to every patient while considering and incorporating their cultural diversity and the patient holistically. Healthcare providers should be culturally competent to provide compassionate, caring, patient-centered care that promotes safety and quality in healthcare, reducing healthcare disparities. Culturally competent care supports social justice and health equity; it encourages health care as a human right. There is evidence that cultural competence and humility in professional development improve providers' cultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and humility when caring for patients from diverse backgrounds. Being culturally competent prevents healthcare providers from possessing stereotypes and allowing bias to interfere with healthcare delivery. Cultural competence and humility prepare the healthcare team to provide culturally safe, patient-centered care that increases patient satisfaction, reduces health disparities, and enables health equity. A program evaluation was conducted in the spring of 2023 to evaluate the community hospitals’ Cultural Competence Program for the organizational immediate, intermediate, and long-term outcomes. It addressed any gaps in the program while assessing the strengths and weaknesses to propose recommendations for revisions, if needed for long term sustainability. The goal of this program evaluation was to increase cultural competence in nursing to improve health outcomes and quality of care through decreasing disparities, to enable health equity. The program evaluation CULTURAL COMPETENCE PROGRAM EVALUATION 4 findings were that the community hospital offers a mandatory Cultural Competence Program outsourced by a company named Syntrio annually to all healthcare providers. The project champion and patient care services stakeholders assessed the need for a program evaluation. The 571 nurses in the organization are required to complete the online modules annually. Anonymous nurse interviews and a focus group allowed for the nurses to share their perspective of the program. Their input assisted in the recommendations for program enhancement. Strengths of the cultural competence program included training on unconscious bias and employee essentials that focus on care for diverse patients. The findings of the project demonstrated that the majority of the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Medical Surgical unit were positive to receive feedback on how they are doing in an intercultural setting. They want to learn the similarities and differences of different cultures.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Elam, Kendra, "Evaluation of Effectiveness of Cultural Competence Program Implemented as Standard Practice to Improve Nurses’ Cultural Competency (Cultural Awareness, Cultural Cultural Knowledge, Cultural Skill), Improving Patient Care in a Community Hospital" (2023). Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Manuscripts. 42.
https://dsc.duq.edu/dnp/42