In 2006, the American Association of Colleges of
Nursing (AACN) established the initiative, Preparing a
Culturally Competent Nursing Workforce, supported by a
grant from the California Endowment. The purpose was to
create cultural competencies for baccalaureate nursing
education. AACN convened a committee of national expert
educators and clinicians to make recommendations to
strengthen the cultural competency elements of The
Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing Education. The cultural
competencies were developed in accordance with the
revision of The Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing
Education and will be incorporated as part of the essentials
for baccalaureate nursing programs. Given the centrality of
cultural competence in ensuring high standards of safe
nursing care to all patients, cultural competencies may
become increasingly integrated into accreditation expectations
and made more apparent in licensure examinations.
The cultural competencies provide a broad frame of
expectations that can guide nurse educators in preparing
a culturally competent workforce (AACN, 2008a). The
product of the expert committee’s work includes five cultural
competencies for baccalaureate education. Content
and learning strategies and a toolkit to support the implementation
are included. These documents are available at
the AACN Web site (AACN, 2008c). The purpose of this
article is to outline the five cultural competencies and the
rationale for each, discuss the expected implementation
and evaluation of those competencies,1 and present some
recommendations for institutionalizing the changes