title: Caring for ethnic minority patients: a mixed method study of nurses' self-assessment of cultural competency.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research shows that nurses tend to be lacking cultural competence, which may influence treatment and care for ethnic minority patients negatively.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate how Medical Unit nurses and Psychiatric Unit nurses assess their own competency concerning patients with minority backgrounds. The topics covered are: intercultural knowledge, knowledge of medical traditions and differences in illness etiology, symptom assessment, and in-service education and availability of advice. These topics are seen in relation to the nurses' years of work experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three focus group interviews were conducted before the development of a Likert-type questionnaire containing six topics and a total of 35 statements. 145 Medical Unit nurses (90%) and 100 Psychiatric Unit nurses (81%) returned the questionnaire. SPSS was used to analyze the quantitative data; hermeneutic thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the Medical Unit nurses and the Psychiatric Unit nurses indicated that knowledge about illness and treatment philosophies other than Western biomedicine was inadequate. The respondents also found symptom assessment difficult, and they were offered little, if any, in-service education. Work experience added little substantive knowledge.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Experience alone does not equip nurses with adequate knowledge for intercultural symptom assessment and culturally competent treatment and care. Formal education, in-service classes, courses, feedback and access to relevant information are needed together with reflection upon clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Lovisenberg Diakonale Sykehus [Lovisenberg Deaconal Hospital], Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus, Senter for profesjonsstudier (Oslo and Akershus University College, Centre for the Study of Professions), Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: lisemal@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Lise-Merete
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Alpers
authors.affiliation: Lovisenberg diakonale høgskole/Lovisenberg Deaconal University College, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: Ingrid.Hanssen@ldh.no.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hanssen
mesh_terms: D065246:Culturally Competent Care; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D009732:Nursing Care; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D005791:Patient Care; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D012647:Self-Assessment
keywords: Cultural competency; Ethnic minority patients; Pain assessment