Cultural Competence in Rural Nursing Education: Are We There Yet?

AIM: This multimethod study assessed the capacity of nursing education programs to promote culturally congruent practice in a single rural state. BACKGROUND: An important objective of our HRSA-funded Advanced Education in Nursing grant was to increase nurse educator proficiency in teaching cultural concepts. This study served as a statewide baseline assessment to inform future faculty development efforts. METHOD: Subjects included faculty, graduate students, and clinical educators representing all levels of nursing education programs. Self-report cultural proficiency data were collected via survey while focus groups and electronic surveys were utilized to assess curricula. RESULTS: No significant differences in proficiency were found by faculty age or education. Qualitative data indicated that concepts of culture are not easily identified across the curriculum. CONCLUSION: There is need for increased and explicit focus on concepts of culture in nursing education programs to prepare nurses for culturally congruent practice with potential to reduce health disparities.

Assessing competencies of the public health workforce in a frontier state.

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of perceived proficiency of a public health workforce based on the Public Health Practice Core Competencies. The Public Health Profile and Training Needs Assessment questionnaire was mailed out to public health employees representing mostly public health nursing, environmental health, mental health, and public health management/administration (n = 696). Nearly three-quarters (74%) of participants were female and 96% reported being white. Eighty one percent of participants were currently employed full-time. The majority of participants were trained at the bachelors level (54%). The response rate was 63.9%. Findings from this study show that all disciplines reported higher perceived proficiency in the Communication skills domain compared to the other seven skills domains. Perceived low skills domains included "financial planning and management skills" and "policy development/program planning skills" among public health nurses, mental health professionals, and environmental health specialists. Management/administration level staff reported their lowest perceived proficiency in Basic Public Health Science skills. Each group had different strengths and weaknesses and the necessary level of skill needed differs among discipline groups, thus future trainings on the Public Health Core Competencies should be discipline specific.