Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing
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Cultural competency in the delivery of health care to diverse population groups has become an urgent need in the United States. Yet, despite the incorporation of cultural competency education into nursing curricula, inequities in health care remain. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to identify if differences in perceptions of cultural competence were present in senior nursing students (N = 11) before and after cultural immersion experiences on an Indian reservation. ⋯ Three common themes emerged: seeing with closed eyes, seeing through a fused horizon, and disruption to reshaping. These combined results revealed the misperceptions regarding the concept of cultural competency. Efforts must be made in nursing education to teach students the importance of adopting an ethic of cultural humility, where we emphasize attentive listening and openness to other cultures, and stress the importance of self-reflection and self-critique in our interactions with others.