title: Cultural Awareness Among Nursing Staff at an Academic Medical Center.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The goal is to identify areas for targeted improvement in regard to cultural awareness and competence among nursing staff and in the work environment.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Many facilities have initiated programs to facilitate cultural competence development among nursing staff; however, there has been little examination of the effect of these initiatives, assessment of experienced nurses' cultural awareness, or investigation of nurse leader's role in promoting cultural competence in the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional descriptive study, a cultural awareness survey was modified and electronically distributed to all registered nurses and assistive personnel at an academic medical center.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The modified survey instrument showed good reliability and validity among the study population. Most nursing staff exhibited a moderate to high level of cultural awareness and held positive opinions about nursing leadership and the work environment with regard to cultural issues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In increasingly diverse work environments, assessing the cultural awareness of nursing staff enables nurse leaders to evaluate efforts in promoting cultural competence and to identify specific areas in which to target staff development efforts and leadership training.
authors.affiliation: Author Affiliations: Patient Services Manager 7, Children's Hospital (Ms McElroy); Nurse Researcher (Dr Smith-Miller); Vice President of Nursing and Associate Chief Nursing Officer (Dr Madigan); Doctoral Student (Ms Li), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McElroy
authors.forename: Cheryl A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Smith-Miller
authors.forename: Catherine K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Madigan
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000523:psychology*; D065246:Culturally Competent Care / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000523:psychology*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015144:Southeastern United States