Home

Competence

The concept of cultural competency is an interesting one because it presents a challenge to define. The concept in general means to be sensitive to the cultural background and needs of a person in your care. But it is a little harder to measure it, or to know for sure if you are practicing it.

Suzanne Salimbene believes that cultural competency is a matter of evolving one�s thoughts attitudes and actions through five stages:

1. ethnocentricity
2. awareness
3. refraining from stereotyping
4. acquiring knowledge
5. acquisitions of skills and strategies to identify cultural differences and to know how to deal with them in a way that meets the patients' needs and expectations as well as satisfying the nursing and institutional standard of quality care. (Salimbene, 1999, p.31)

Such a definition reminds us of the importance of identifying and defining components of the subject, in order to be able to discuss them, assess them, and teach them. DiCicco-Bloom (2000) defines cultural competence as "a set of congruent behaviours, attitudes and polices that come together in a system, agency or among professionals to work effectively in a cross-cultural setting (p.30)."

One important aspect of cultural competency is how to identify that aspect of cross-cultural caring that relates to a clash of values:

The nurse needs to be prepared for how to handle a conflict of value systems; if the nurse cannot resolve a conflict between his or her own cultural values and that of the patient, then he or she has the responsibility of discussing the issue with a supervisor (DiCicco-Bloom, 1999, p.31).