Understanding to humanise: Teaching nurses' experience with caring for Mapuche patients

The Mapuche are a minority group living in small communities in southern Chile. Due to many variables, such as poverty and cultural factors, they are susceptible to inequalities in education and healthcare.

To describe nurse educators' experiences of caring for Mapuche people in primary care centers in Chile.

A descriptive qualitative study was performed with nine female nurse educators who supervised nursing students in clinical placement. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews. Triangulation was achieved through consensus among the researchers.

The analysis yielded two themes: Cultural sensitivity and Humanisation of care. Nurse educators respect Mapuche beliefs and practices about health and treatment and adapt clinical interventions accordingly. Nurse educators are committed to integrate Mapuche spiritual and cultural needs into the biomedical model, aiming to build a genuine person-centered relationship with patients and to promote transcultural nursing models with students.

Culturally competent professionals are needed to train nurses about the demands of a globalized and culturally diverse world. Training is required in both humanized care competencies and cross-cultural nursing. Improving cultural competence among nurses and nurse educators would improve patients' health outcomes and would allow preventative intervention, therefore reducing treatment failures and further complications.