A Collaborative Educational Community Partnership to Enhance Cultural Sensitivity Among Baccalaureate Nursing Students: Understanding the East Indian Culture

Bogopolskiy, Tatayana

Friday, July 15, 2011: 10:30 AM

Tatayana Bogopolskiy, MSN, ARNP¹
Therese Boyd, EdD, ARNP-BC²
Irina Rozenfeld, RN, BSN, CCRP³
Elvira Velez, BSN, MPH, ARNP-BC²
(1)College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Florida International University, North Miami, FL
(2)University Health Services, Florida International University, North Miami, FL
(3)Office of Clinical Research, Nova Southeastern University, Fort lauderdale, FL

Learning Objective 1: Immediately develop project ideas which will enhance students’ abilities to provide culturally competent and sensitive care to patients of East Indian descent.

Learning Objective 2: Identify at least 3 collaborative partnership opportunities within a university and community to train diverse students on specific cultural topics.

Contemporary nurses need to be prepared to function in an international environment in partnership with other healthcare professionals to eliminate health inequalities and provide culturally competent care. Disparities in health conditions and access to healthcare among minority ethnic groups continue to be the predicament in 21st century healthcare (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2008). AACN (2008) requires integration of culturally diverse learning experiences in baccalaureate nursing education to promote and nurture skills for working with diverse populations.

This poster describes the collaborative partnership between the College of Nursing and the university’s Student Health Center, which focused on the development and implementation of a teaching-learning activity to train students on specific cultural topics. Senior-year baccalaureate nursing students in Community Health Nursing were selected to participate in the project about East Indian culture. The project includes three sequential steps. The Student Health Center’s staff assisted the students to prepare and conduct a survey among the diverse student population in order to assess the level of knowledge and information about East Indian culture. The results of the survey demonstrated knowledge deficiencies about East Indian traditions, including Hindu beliefs and ceremonies, arranged marriage practices, gender roles, common health problems, family planning, dietary practices. Survey results were used to create an oral presentation. College of Nursing faculty members assisted the students with the organization and implementation of an event that celebrated East Indian culture, music, art and ethnic food. This project created multiple positive outcomes, including an intra-institutional clinical site for a community nursing course, student-centered culturally diverse learning interactions, discussion among students and faculty about attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed for culturally competent care. Implementation of the project provided measurable outcomes of students’ learning.

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). Cultural competency in baccalaureate nursing education.

Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/competency.pdf

See more of: Cultural Competencies for Nursing Practice
See more of: World Academy of Nursing Science: Oral Paper & Posters