TRAINING STUDENT NURSES TO PROVIDE CULTURALLY COMPETENT CARE

Abstract

The time in which we live allows ways of communication between people of different culture, language, nationality, ethnicity, religion, customs and traditions. Migration processes and the free movement of people are increasing more and more, which is becoming a global challenge. When providing health care in one's own or a foreign country, there may be cultural differences that medical professionals must be prepared for. When providing health care in one's own or a foreign country, cultural differences may emerge, for which must be prepared. The purpose of the study is to determine whether future nurses can define the problems in these cases that will arise not only for patients in the provision of health care, but also for themselves. The study was conducted among 52 students, majoring in nursing during the academic year 2022 – 2023 at South-West University „Neofit Rilski“- Blagoevgrad. The obtained results show a certain level of knowledge and willingness to provide culturally appropriate nursing care, acceptance of cultural humility as a virtue of the nursing profession, possible problems in communication in a multicultural environment, language barrier, and cultural indications of fears of patients and nurses, ways to cope with them. To be able to provide quality care, within the context of the philosophy of nursing, future professionals need to study and apply conceptual nursing theories that address cross-cultural issues to prepare them to work with patients from different cultures, applying holistic care. Today's world is multicultural and this new knowledge will help to form sensitivity to people different from our culture and worldview, proper understanding of the culture, beliefs, values and expectations of the patients and implementation of culturally congruent professional health care.