Community Engaged Partnership to Enhance Nursing Student Cultural Humility and Competence: A Pilot Study

Introduction Nurses are at the forefront of patient care. The care that nurses provide can have a profound impact on patient health. Integration of cultural humility and cultural competence into patient care can have a lasting influence on patient health outcomes and aid in reducing health inequities. This pilot study aimed to develop and explore the implementation of a new clinical rotation, through a community engaged approach to work towards health equity with Latinx clients at a multi-service community organization. Methods Students completed a sixteen week rotation at a community organization with a focus on culturally relevant nutrition education. Questionnaires completed by students included Foronda's Cultural Humility Scale and the Nurses’ Multicultural Caring Competence Scale (NMCCS). Results The students demonstrated a trend towards increased cultural humility after the clinical rotation. To benefit students’ learning experiences throughout the curriculum, it is critical that opportunities for experiential learning are available. Conclusions A community engaged approach to creating partnerships between schools of nursing and community organizations can be beneficial for both groups. Further, benefits of these partnerships extend to nursing students’ practice leading to better care provided to diverse patient populations.