study is cultural understanding. The authors find that the ability of nurses to understand cultural
differences and how they impact on the behaviors and values of patients significantly depends on
the personal attributes of the nurse. These attributes include empathy, openness, and human
outlook. A cross-cultural encounter is also a key component of cultural competence. It is
important for nurses to understand the ethnohistory of the different cultures that they encounter
when providing health care to patients. They should also seek information from patients
belonging to these cultural groups regarding their ethnic history. The authors argue that nursing
and health care practitioners should develop skills and knowledge necessary to address cultural
dimensions that necessary for the encounter between the nurse and patient. Identifying cultural
components is, therefore, an important step in enhancing cultural competence among nurses.
One of the key challenges that hinder the development of cultural competence among
nursing professionals and students is the lack of a proper training module to promote cultural
capability of registered nurses and students. Fast-changing demographics of different countries
make it necessary to have graduate nurses that are equipped with the skills and knowledge
required to succeed in a work environment characterized by diversity (Amerson, 2010). Most
nursing curricula do not place enough emphasis on the need for students to acquire skills on
cultural competence. Many nurse trainers and instructors also lack the confidence to teach
cultural competence. Several nursing institutions also develop nursing curricular that consider
other aspects of nursing practice to be more important than cultural competence. Although
nursing students are taught on cultural competence in school, most of them perceive the course
content to be insufficient for the proper mastery of the subject. There is, therefore, a wide gap
between what is taught in the classroom and what is needed for a nurse to be regarded as
culturally competent. There is a need for teaching methods to comprehensively address the key
