title: Teaching culturally diverse populations.
abstract: Nurses frequently interact with patients whose cultural beliefs are different from the nurses. Because health beliefs and values have a direct influence on health, the nurse must understand the culture of the patient when developing patient teaching programs. Ignorance of cultural differences can pose serious problems in patient education; without such knowledge nurses will alienate the very patients they are attempting to teach, and thereby run the risk of making recommendations in the teaching process that will be ignored. Only when the cultural dimensions of patient care are considered in planning can nurses claim that they are providing holistic and comprehensive care.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D003144:Communication Barriers; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D009871:Operating Room Nursing; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D016746:Transcultural Nursing