A multifocal education strategy to enhance hospital-based Cultural competency in professional staff.

The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) believes that cultural competence is a critical factor in providing quality cancer care to an increasingly diverse patient population (ONS, 1999). Nurses and their interdisciplinary colleagues should be educated comprehensively to foster sensitivity and responsiveness to issues of diversity. ONS (1999) issued guidelines and identified four components of educational interventions designed to enhance cultural competence: promoting cultural self-awareness, disseminating cultural knowledge, developing cultural skill building, and facilitating cultural encounters. This article describes one institution’s efforts to enhance the cultural competency of its staff by using multiple interventions over seven years. Although the effort ultimately resulted in a systemwide institutional initiative, the impetus for this novel offering originated from innovations within the institution’s cancer program.