Transcultural nursing: the vehicle for the delivery of much needed compassionate and culturally competent care for all

Despite the astonishing technological advancements of recent years, the explosion of knowledge, of all kind of things human, which is freely available and easily accessible via the internet, the advancements in medicine, the power of globalisation and global health policies and agreements, not to mention the significant changes brought about through philanthropic acts by a few of the world’s mega rich, the world remains a place where inequalities of living conditions continue to exist and even flourish, whilst inhumane acts and deeds are perpetrated in all walks of life, and all professions including nursing.
My talk will argue that transcultural nursing can be the vehicle which will help nurses and other health professionals to deal with inequalities and de-humanising uncaring practices where they exist. In particular, I will introduce the Papadopoulos, Tilki and Taylor model of transcultural care and cultural competence and will use its principles to illustrate how compassionate and culturally competent care can be achieved.