Implications of nursing faculties' cultural competence

Despite the need to increase diversity in the nursing profession, minority nurses continue to be underrepresented. The literature implies that nurse educators' lack of cultural competence could be contributing to minority nursing students' high attrition rate. No published studies known to this author exist on the relationship between nurse educators' cultural competence and the recruitment and graduation of minority nursing students. Using a descriptive correlational survey design, this study explored the relationship between nurse educators' cultural competence and the recruitment and graduation of minority nursing students. Nurse educators in nine accredited colleges of nursing completed the Cultural Diversity Questionnaire for Nurse Educators. A significant statistical correlation was found between mean cultural competence scores and the percentage of minority nursing students graduated from these schools. Nurse educators need to increase their cultural competence, enabling them to help students from diverse cultural backgrounds stay in school and graduate.