Culture in Nursing: Equal Access and Equal Quality of Care

Culturally competent healthcare insures that patients receive equitable services regardless of their socioeconomic background, culture, ethnicity, language barriers, or disabilities.  Step one in delivering culturally competent nursing care is self-awareness and understanding one’s own personal biases.  I do believe that nurses have a role in assuring that the under-served have both equal access and equal quality of care.  One of the main ways that nurses can ensure that the under-served get this high level of access and equality of care is to advocate for these groups at the local and national level. 

Before advocating, nurses and physicians must understand that health outcomes improve greatly with primary care access.  One of the areas that we see access drastically impact outcomes is in early detection of breast cancer.  In a study of women from minority cultural groups, several barriers to access were identified.  Lack of money, language barriers, not knowing where to go, what to say, or feeling as if they’d be talked down to. “Women from minority cultural groups also identified a lack of transport as a barrier to health screening” (Durham & Pollard, 2010; Hodgins, Millar, & Barry, 2006; Reath & Carey, 2008; Wagner,2009).

One woman in Peters (2012) study commented, “I’m not from an English speaking background and wedo not know where to go and who to go to and [we are] not always being encouraged to go for it [women’s health screening]”. Knowing that women, children, the disabled, and the poor go without primary care, delay care, and ultimately have poorer health outcomes than those with a few more dollars in their pocket or speaking the native language, is a travesty.  Unequal care should not be acceptable to those that have dedicated their lives to helping others maintain quality health.

References

Durham, K., & Pollard, D. (2010). Experiences of certified nurse midwives in providing

culturallycompetent care for Hispanic women. Southern OnlineJournal of Nursing 

Research, 10, 1–14.

Peters, K. (2012). Politics and patriarchy: Barriers to health screening for socially disadvantaged

women. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal For The Australian Nursing Profession, 42(2),

190-197.