title: Nurses in Action: A Response to Cultural Care Challenges in a Pediatric Acute Care Setting.
abstract: Culturally congruent care is satisfying, meaningful, fits with people's daily lives, and promotes their health and wellbeing. A group of staff nurses identified specific clinical challenges they faced in providing such care for Hispanic and underserved Caucasian children and families in the pediatric medical-surgical unit of an urban regional children's hospital in the southeastern U.S. To address these challenges, an academic-practice partnership was formed between a group of nurse managers and staff nurses at the children's hospital and nursing faculty and graduate students at a local, research-intensive public university. Using the culture care theory, the partners collaborated on a research study to discover knowledge that would help the nursing staff resolve the identified clinical challenges. Twelve families and 12 healthcare providers participated. Data analysis revealed five care factors that participants identified as most valuable: family, faith, communication, care integration, and meeting basic needs. These themes were used to formulate nursing actions that, when applied in daily practice, could facilitate the provision of culturally congruent care for these children and their families. The knowledge generated by this study also has implications for healthcare organizations, nursing educators, and academic-practice partnerships that seek to ensure the delivery of equitable care for all patients.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Electronic address: smixer@utk.edu.
authors.forename: Sandra J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Mixer
authors.affiliation: East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville, TN.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carson
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.
authors.forename: Polly M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: McArthur
authors.affiliation: East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville, TN.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.affiliation: East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville, TN; Morristown Gastroenterology, Morristown, TN.
authors.forename: Krystle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville, TN; Caylor School of Nursing, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville, TN.
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville, TN.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chadwick
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003422:Critical Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D065246:Culturally Competent Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D024802:Nurse's Role; D000072222:Nurses, Pediatric / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009746:Nursing, Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Academic–Practice partnership; Appalachian; Cultural competence; Ethnonursing research; Family-centered care; Hispanic