Cultural Competence Among Nurse Educators in Nursing Colleges of Pakistan

BackgroundCultural competence (CC) is regarded as an essential requirement in providing relevant, effective, and culturally sensitive health care to a more diverse population. Thus, nurse educators' cultural competence is critical in shaping nursing students' ability to offer culturally competent care. Hence, this study aimed to measure the level of cultural competence among nurse educators in Islamabad, Pakistan.MethodsAn analytical cross-sectional study was conducted. The study was conducted in 14 nursing colleges of Islamabad, Pakistan. Using census sampling, 93 nurse educators were recruited. The nurse Cultural Competence Scale (NCCS) was used for data collection.ResultsThe majority of nurse educators in Islamabad demonstrated a high degree of cultural competence. It was found that nurse educators who were engaged in teaching students from diverse cultural backgrounds had higher cultural competence. Furthermore, it was found that the majority of nurse educator's characteristics were not predictors of the cultural competence level.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the need for cultural competence training programs for nurse educators and ongoing institutional support to enhance their cultural competence via diverse cultural exposures. The study also emphasizes the need for further research to understand the impact of demographic characteristics on cultural competence in other contexts.ImplicationsThis research has important implications for policymakers and educational institutions. It illuminates the necessity of developing training programs to improve cultural competence among nurse educators.