Nurse anesthesia and multiculturalism

Program directors from 90 accredited nurse anesthesia programs in the United States and Puerto Rico were surveyed concerning multicultural issues. This article summarizes the identified needs of clients and student nurse anesthetists from culturally diverse backgrounds. Noteworthy findings include the perception that clients were more disadvantaged than students because of differences in socioeconomic status; the fact that about half of the programs provided students with instruction on cultural differences; and the observation that specific units of instruction within courses were the most frequent way of giving instruction in this subject area.