Culturally appropriate care: optional or imperative

With world wide immigration and migration, the need for transcultural nursing knowledge has become increasingly imperative. The nurse interacts with immigrants, refugees, and other peoples from almost every point of the globe who hold world views and health values very different from her or his own. No longer can advanced practice nurses either rely on learned medical ethnocentrism or continue practicing cultural imposition and give high quality, effective health care. Perhaps in no other area of life is culture so significant as in health care beliefs and health seeking behavior. What is valued and judged as "good" care is culturally based. The culturally competent nurse will assess and respect cultural practices, integrate the client's perception of care in the care plan thereby providing high quality, cost effective health care.