Incorporating cultural diversity in nursing care: an action plan

This article examines the context of culture from the perspective of the increase in immigration and concomitant growth of diversity within the United States. It proposes that nurses who deliver culturally competent care are brokers of three cultures: their own; the health care system; and the client. The mechanism for creating approaches to care that utilize this concept is the nursing process. A culture-specific assessment can be achieved using the explanatory model of illness. The inadequacies of some frequently used strategies such as nursing diagnosis are also discussed with suggested changes.