Finally, we should remember that the quality of patients’ experiences and the quality of care are directly linked to hospitals’ financial health and profitability. It’s logical that if patients are not satisfied with the care they receive, or if going to a specific hospital does not result in improved health, they are going to look elsewhere for their medical needs.
For nursing schools as well, training culturally competent nurses who will help hospitals succeed in a future with increasingly diverse populations will benefit the universities as well as the hospitals they serve. Unfortunately, many graduating nursing students do not feel culturally competent and feel unprepared. Furthermore, cultural competence shouldn’t be taught to just nursing students but also to the faculty. Nursing programs with faculty who possess cultural competence result in higher retention and graduation rates which leads to higher revenue for the university.
No one pretends that improving cultural competence would be easy. It would take a lot of work and time, and budget might understandably be a concern for both nursing programs and hospitals. But there’s a strong business case for investing in cultural competence anyway because it leads to financial rewards that justify the investment. On the other hand, not investing in it is almost guaranteed to be costly, and this will only be more true in the years ahead. Nursing programs and hospitals that want an edge in the increasingly competitive future of healthcare should definitely get to work on this immediately.
About the author: Dr. Yolanda M. VanRiel is an RN associate professor and department chair of nursing at North Carolina Central University.
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