Culturally Competent Nursing Care

Deborah L. Flowers is an associate professor with East Central Oklahoma Department of Nursing, Ada, Okla. She is program coordinator for the distance education nursing program, ECU @ Southeastern Department of Nursing, Durant, Okla. Changing Demographics Demographic changes in many countries reflect an increasingly diverse population. For example, in Sweden, a society that once reflected only a single or perhaps a few ethnic groups now comprises more than 100 different ethnic groups. On the basis of their society’s changing demographics, healthcare professionals in Sweden have begun to address the need for “establishing a commitment and a way of working to facilitate the development of cultural competence” in various healthcare situations. To this end, the executive committee of the Public Health and Medical Services in Sweden has begun to assess the need for culturally competent care and to develop training programs for healthcare workers that are designed to address this need. The United States also has experienced a change in demographics stimulated by an influx of persons from diverse ethnic and cultural groups. If current population trends continue, it is projected that by the year 2080, the white population will become a minority group, constituting 48.9% of the total population of the United States. Data from the censuses of 1980 and 2000 (Table 1) illustrate a marked change in ethnic population trends among 4 ethnic groups: white, African American, Hispanic, and Native American.