Pediatricians and Pediatric Nurses in the Delivery of Culturally Competent Care: A Scoping Literature Review to Investigate Progress and Issues around Culturally Diverse Care in Pediatrics

Abstract

CitationTwomey TC. Pediatricians and pediatric nurses in the delivery of culturally competent care: A scoping literature review to investigate progress and issues around culturally diverse care in paediatrics. Review ABSTRACTThe demographics in the United States are rapidly changing. In 2012, 47.2% of the children who lived in the United Stated were of color. However, three out of four physicians identified themselves as White non-Hispanic and approximately 83% of nurses are White, nonHispanic. The changing demographics and increasing diversity of the population has an impact on care and quality of care being delivered by pediatric healthcare providers to children and their families. In 2005, The Office of Minority Health reported that the main ingredient in closing the gap in health care disparities is cultural competency. This scoping literature review investigated how pediatricians and pediatric nurses were progressing with their delivery of culturally competent care. The studies in the review revealed that the delivery of culturally competent care by pediatric health care providers has been a slow and difficult process and that there are identified areas of improvement. Pediatricians, pediatric nurses, other pediatric health care providers and families whose children received health care services from these providers were participants in the studies reviewed. Health care providers reported that more cultural competence training and education was necessary. Families in several studies identified communication/linguistics and the provider's ability to be more open and aware as areas where more cultural education and training are needed.

Importance of Patient–Provider Communication to Adherence in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

“…It is well established that a better understanding of patients’ cultural beliefs, values, and traditions also improves communication and may increase disclosure of personal health information [ 59 ]. However, a recent review by Twomey [ 60 ] highlighted the lack of culturally competent communication among pediatric healthcare providers and their patients, concluding that many providers lack the training required to provide optimal care among culturally diverse populations. To address these deficits, many healthcare systems are gradually integrating training programs related to cultural sensitivity that helps providers to be more effective in communicating with ethnic minorities.…”