ANCC Magnet and Cultural Competency

This week I have been at the ANCC Magnet Conference in Salt Lake City, UT. Cook Ross had an exhibit and we were the only consulting organization of our kind (specializing in cultural competency/diversity and inclusion) there. It was very insightful to be with all of the nurses and other health care professionals there to learn about what was up in the world of nursing excellence and of course to see what people are thinking and saying about cultural competency and diversity in their organizations.

What I observed was that the conversation is really just getting started in most places (hospital and healthcare systems). It is also clear that the education that many have had around the subject is leaving them wanting to learn and know more. I heard numerous anecdotes about situations that were culturally oriented and how the nurses learned to deal with them, often times after great struggle--yet with a great deal learned from the experience.

One nurse talked about her experience with a Kurdish refugee family that fled Iraq after the first Persian Gulf War. The nurse was a student and new at caring for patients during her OB rotation. She took care of a pregnant Kurdish woman and observed that that the father was not helping with the child.

The nurse remarked that at first she was judgmental. However, when she learned from a Middle Eastern colleague familiar with Kurdish culture she realized that the dynamic may not be one of neglect but rather one of cultural norms. She later learned that Kurdish men are accustomed to families taking care of the mother and child and since they did not have extended family with them (many of them had stayed in Iraq or were killed) it never occurred to him that his wife would need help.

These sorts of conversations are crucial to the healthcare community in that while many people have these experiences, the stories are not often shared and therefore the learning is limited. Therefore, some healthcare professionals are clear and even passionate about cultural competency while others are desirous of learning more but don't have access to the conversation. In many cases both groups work with one another--how do organizations connect them?

I think this is critical in that a facilitated conversation about an experience is a learning experience on a variety of levels from the personal connection to a certain dynamic or situation that someone else has experienced or is experiencing to an organizational learning that can give health care clinical and non-clinical professionals and staff understanding of their colleagues in a way that lends to improved communication and connection--becoming more aware of how culture affects everything where human interactions are concerned.

Next time I write, I will also discuss a little bit that it coming to me in regards to children's hospitals and cultural competency. I am thinking that there are distinctive dynamics in cultural competency where children's health and the parental component is concerned. We will explore them next time. Make it a great day!