Advocacy and Cultural Competence

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 American Nurses’ Association (ANA) has established principles that need to be practiced

by nurses. These principles guide nurses in their daily operations. In simple terms, they are

directions of what makes up professional treatment (Manthey, 2018). Providing better quality

care that corresponds with the current standards is a major factor that needs to be considered in

nursing. Moreover, upon review of CLAS, it is evident that these standards aim at advancing

health equity, improving quality and assisting in the elimination of disparities related to health

care. Only upon implementation of these standards in the nursing practice, can their objectives be

met including cultural competence which results to various benefits. Health care facilities

portraying this aspect have better clinical outcomes, high levels of respect and a shared

understanding from patients and an increase in society engagement. By making use of these

standards with my peers, we obtain the ability to make sure cultural diversities among the

patients are highly recognized. We respect the patients’ culture while still offering them quality

care. Upon quality training on how to handle patients, we are able to treat them with respect to

their cultures; refraining from what they consider as a taboo and making them feel comfortable at

all times. We honor the indicated principle standard by providing respectful quality care (Think

Cultural Health, 2019).

In reference to the third CLAS standard about recruiting, promoting and supporting

governance, leadership and a workforce that is diverse both culturally and linguistically, this is

what I would do to improve cultural competence. I would encourage and support recruiting of

employees that are culturally diversified. Through this, I would certainly ensure that there is

enough staff to make sure that each and every cultural requirement of a patient is met

significantly (Delphin-Rittmon et al., 2021). It is proven that language is the key to entering a
community. This will take place efficiently since language barriers will be eliminated hence an

improvement of communication between the nurses and patients.

References

Manthey, M. (2018). Substance Use Disorders and the American Nurses Association Code of

Ethics for Nurses. Creative Nursing, 24(3), 163-165.

Delphin-Rittmon, M. E., Boynton, E. S., Ortiz, J., Davidson, L., & Flanagan, E. H. (2021). The

Organizational Multicultural Competence Assessment (OMCA): A tool to assess an

organization’s multicultural competence and adherence to the National Standards for

Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Healthcare (the National

CLAS Standards). Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal.

Think Cultural Health (2019). The National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services

Standards (CLAS). Think Cultural Health.

https://thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov/clas/standards