Effective Multicultural Team in the Delivery of Elderly Care : Perspectives from Finnish and Foreign-Born Nurses

The aim of this study is to describe quantitatively the effectiveness of the multicultural teamwork from the perspective of Finnish-born and the foreign-born nurses who are in the delivery of elderly care here in western Finland (Ostrobothnia). The purpose is to comparatively define the responses of the Finnish-born and foreign-born nurses in a multicultural working environment using Tirmizi’s criteria of effective multicultural team: satisfaction, learning, and performance. The study was carried out using quantitative research method where voluntary informants from selected elderly wards and selected nursing students who has experience of working in the elderly care took the survey. Garnering 122 informants in total divided into 83 from the Finnish-born and 39 from the foreign-born nurses. The multicultural team that comprises Finnish-born and foreign-born nurses in western Finland (Ostrobothnia) is effective in the delivery of elderly care. The team does trust each other’s skills, openness in communication, mutual respect, integration, and interaction is perceived. Additionally, the majority of participants are ready to accept new things and new work method coming from colleagues with different cultural background. Different culture enriches the work community by way of learning it through personal encounter. Multicultural team also has challenges. The main concern is always language barrier. Communication in nursing is very crucial; hence learning the language must be a priority to be effective in the work. On the other hand, managers are also encouraged to provide equal support to the multicultural team