Implementation of a Transcultural Nursing Education Program to Improve Nurses\u27 Cultural Competence

The exponential growth of culturally diverse populations in the United States has led to a multicultural patient population while the nursing workforce remains predominantly White. At the project site, managers identified that staff nurses struggled to deliver culturally competent care. The purpose of this project was to improve the cultural competence of registered nurses (RNs) through a transcultural nursing education program. Leininger\u27s transcultural nursing theory guided the project. Sources of evidence used to develop a face-to-face educational program included peer-reviewed journals, credible websites, and the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals-R tool. Aggregate pretest and posttest scores were used to determine RNs\u27 competency levels. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software was used for data analysis, and a paired t test was used to determine the impact of the program. Of the 22 participants, 4 (18%) scored within the culturally competent range on the pretest, compared to 17 (77%) on the posttest. These findings were statistically significant (p \u3c 0.000) and demonstrated a positive outcome from the educational project. Key recommendations are to continue this education for other RNs in the facility and at other facilities in the network. The implications of this project for positive social change include raising the cultural competency of nurses, which has the potential to improve patient outcomes