Cultural Humility in Simulation Education: A State of the Science

Purpose: The National League for Nursing, a voice for nursing education, has identified diversity as a core value. Leading organizations including the Institute of Medicine and American Association of Colleges of Nursing have indicated a need for cultural competency education. To prepare nursing students to aptly care for a multicultural population, education regarding cultural humility is necessary. 

Studies have indicated that students of minority backgrounds appreciate integration of race and culture in simulation. However, current international simulation standards lack an emphasis on diversity and cultural humility; thus, simulation curricula may be missing this essential component. The aim of this poster is to provide the state of the science on the presence of cultural humility in simulation education to provide direction for simulation education, research, and policy development.  

Methods: The databases of PubMed, CINAHL, and ERIC, were searched using terms of “cultural humility” or “cultural competence” and “simulation.” One hundred twenty two abstracts were reviewed by two researchers independently to determine relevance.  

Results:  Fifty-one articles were included in the review. Team members reviewed the literature and achieved consensus on the emerged themes. The results of the integrative review including what is known as well as gaps in knowledge will be presented. 

Conclusion: Future directions for research include evaluation of student learning outcomes related to integration of culture in simulation. Simulation facilitators may require training in cultural humility. Culture must be interpreted in the broadest sense and simulation curricula must be examined to assure that students are exposed to a wide variety of cultural contexts. We recommend that cultural humility be added as a Standard to the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) Standards. Adding cultural humility to the Standards will serve as the impetus to transform simulation curricula globally. Cultural humility must transcend the confines of the classroom and extend to the simulation center to improve student learning, retention, and improve patient care.