Abstract

Acquiring cultural competence is an ongoing process in which healthcare professionals strive continuously to achieve the ability to work effectively within the context of their client’s culture. This study investigated clinical cultural competence of Saudi student nurses’ behaviors at the University of Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Cultural Competence Clinical Evaluation Tool- Teacher Version was used to measure the different dimensions of Saudi student nurses’ clinical cultural competence behaviors as rated by their clinical instructors. The student nurses level of clinical cultural competence behavior was rated as “average”. The score of the Affective domain scored the highest mean, followed by the practical domain, with the cognitive domain being the lowest. There were significant differences in the clinical cultural competence behavior levels of the student nurses. These student nurses’ average cultural competency, reflected their own cultural competence, because they viewed their instructors as role models, enabling the acquisition of learning via knowledge transfer; Clinical Instructors teach the student nurses in circumstances as similar as possible to those in which nursing laboratory simulation to actual hospital setting will be employed.

Key words: Cultural competence, clinical instructors, student nurses, cultural assessment.