Assessing culture: pediatric nurses' beliefs and self-reported practices

Assessment of culture is an essential step in providing effective nursing care to a culturally diverse patient population. The purpose of this study was to describe the beliefs and self-reported practices of pediatric nurses from four Children's Hospitals regarding the process of assessing culture. The 584 respondents indicated they worked with a culturally diverse patient population and frequently experienced cultural conflicts. Findings indicated cultural assessments were not routinely performed. The majority indicated that learning more about the child's culture would improve the effectiveness of their nursing care. Respondents were willing to conduct cultural assessments on selected patients if this task could be accomplished in less than 15 minutes. Recommendations include guidelines for developing and implementing an appropriate cultural assessment process within a hospital setting.