Some of these cultural aspects are those that contradict with the principles of modern medicine. Therefore, by the practitioner having a good understanding of these sensitive aspects of culture, he/she will be able to make the appropriate decision for the situation at hand. Communication skills are also important for all culturally competent health care professionals. For example, in situations which concern culture and the norms associated with culture based on the amount of information that can be disclosed and the type of information. This can form a serious barrier in the provision of health care and therefore the practitioner needs to understand the culture and the norms in order to be able to enable communication and self-disclosure of the patient.

Language skills are also important for culturally competent health care practitioners. Translation is one of the language skills. It is an extra advantage if the health care practitioner is able to speak more than one language since it will help in collection of accurate historical information as well as other information from the patient. It also helps to reduce the faults that are created by literal translations and facilitates clear communication between the patient and the medical practitioner.

ANMC competency standards

There are several points in the ANMC National Competency Standards that touch on the knowledge, skills and values required of a culturally competent health care practitioner. One is that the ANMC competency standards emphasize on evidence-based practice which is an important value of the culturally competent health practitioner. This is in article 3.1 of the National Competency Standards Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council ()

The ANMC standards also emphasize on working in an ethical and professional manner which when the health care practitioner acquires the relevant knowledge, values and skills necessary for cultural competency, they can be able to work in the best possible manner that bring the greatest benefit to the patient or individual seeking health care.

Conclusion

Cultural competence is an important skill that is required of the...

Cultural competence is an important virtue in the healthcare environment and it helps the health care practitioner to deal with individuals from different cultures while helping them to get the best possible health care, in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Although cultural competence is an important practice and there is a need for the health care practitioner to gain the appropriate knowledge, skills and values required for cultural competence, cultural competence is not a widespread concept as pertains the application of this knowledge, skills and values. Therefore, there is a need to emphasize on the need of the health care practitioner to work best within the framework provided in order to achieve cultural competence. The ANMC National Competency Standards do not expressly state the need for cultural competence and only inference can be made to the need of cultural competency. It can be recommended that cultural competence be included in the ANMC National Competency Standards