Nurses ar e Key to Bridging the Gap of
Cultural Competency in Care
The combined forces of an older and more ethnically and racially diverse society
will have a profound impact on the United States in the coming years. By the
year 2030, the number of persons 65 and older is expected to more than double
to 66 million, or one in every five Americans.
Nurses are on the front lines of patient care and are often the first professionals
that patients encounter. It is important that cultural competence is viewed
as nursing competence, meaning that nurses have the capacity to be equally
therapeutic with older adult patients from any social context or cultural
background.