Honoring Diversity: Developing Culturally Competent Communication Skills Through Simulation

BACKGROUND: Students in nursing programs must learn how to communicate with patients in a culturally competent manner. METHOD: This article explores current best practices in nursing education regarding the inclusion of diversity and cultural humility in the program of study and provides recommendations for innovative ways of thoughtfully threading cultural competence into the curriculum. RESULTS: Mastering culturally competent communication is unlike any other nursing skill, deserving of a creative way of teaching. This article describes the use of the pedagogy in simulation to create the opportunity to introduce scenarios where students care for patients of diverse backgrounds. CONCLUSION: Establishing cultural competence encompasses more than just learning about different cultures. A true emergent experience using standardized patients and scenarios highlighting the cultural considerations that nurses need to be cognizant of and comfortable with can provide a new way of teaching this relevant and current topic.