EXPLORING CULTURE COMPETENCE AMONG REGISTERED NURSES IN PRIVATE TERTAIRY CARE HOSPITAL LAHORE

Abstract

Background: Cultural competence is an important construct of behaviors, attitudes and policies that health care professionals need to be effective when working across cultures. Health promotion and closing the gap between ethnic and social groups is critical in a multicultural health care system and culturally competent nursing care plays an important role in this process.

Objectives: The purpose of the research was to find the level of Cultural Competency Awareness among the RN in a private Tertiary care hospital of Lahore.

Methodology: This study was cross sectional descriptive study and convenience sampling of registered nurses was conducted in a private tertiary care hospital with 115 registered nurses. The Use of Cultural Competence Assessment Scale (CCAS) was used in acquiring all the data and the reliability of the scale was high (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.842). Data analysis was done with SPSS 29 comprising of descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: The findings indicated that overall, the cultural competence awareness of the most of the nurses was at a moderate to high level with a mean score of 3.54 (SD = 0.62). The awareness level of the participants was approximately 55.7% of them had high level of awareness and 40% had moderate level of awareness. The study found that there is no significant difference between the levels of cultural competence awareness of different genders and thus, there is no relationship between gender and level of cultural competence. However, most of the workforce (47.8%) was relatively inexperienced with clinical practice experience of 1-5 years.

Conclusions: The null hypothesis was rejected and it was proved that the registered nurses know about cultural competence. Overall awareness is satisfactory but there is definite need for improvement. The study recommends the preparation of the special training and multiculturalism education programs focusing on theory and practice gap to ensure quality culturally appropriate care.