Embracing Cultural Diversity in Health Care: Developing Cultural Competence

Published: April 2007
Available in English, Spanish
Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI),  Healthy work environment (HWE)

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to promote a healthy work environment for nurses by identifying best practices for embracing diversity within health care organizations. The guideline is relevant to all domains and settings where nurses practice. The recommendations in…

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to promote a healthy work environment for nurses by identifying best practices for embracing diversity within health care organizations. The guideline is relevant to all domains and settings where nurses practice.
The recommendations in this guideline address: 

  • Culturally competent practices in the workplace 
  • Individual competencies, management practices and institutional policies that reflect culturally competent practices 
  • Transformational strategies for embracing diversity at the level of the individual, group, organization, and health care system 
  • Educational requirements and strategies to ensure a culturally competent workforce •    Policy changes to support and sustain culturally competent practices 
  • Future research opportunities

Reference

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (2007). Embracing Cultural Diversity in Health Care: Developing Cultural Competence. Toronto, Canada: Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.

Recommendations

Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Embracing Cultural Diversity in Health Care: Developing Cultural Competence .
See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.  

Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.

Methodology documents

Revision status

Current edition published: April 2007 

Contact

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