Teaching culturally competent care: nursing students experience rural Appalachia

This article describes two courses, Health in Rural Appalachia and Clinical Practice in Appalachia, developed by one of the authors to increase students' cultural competence as professional nurses. Characteristics of the Appalachian culture are described as well as the need for cultural awareness and sensitivity in those providing health care. Both the three-credit seminar course and the one-credit clinical course are described. Students' comments, from journals and other assignments, are interspersed throughout to illustrate various aspects of the cultural heritage they experienced as they worked with nurses and patients in eastern Kentucky.