“…Tbe findmgs of the study suggest that nurses eanng for ethme-mmonty ehents share many eommon expenenees The degree of eonsistency in the accounts given by respondents was remarkable All respondents referred to their inabibty to give 'total care' They frequently separated eare mto basie or pbysical care and tbe 'talkmg to' or psychological care As there is an mereasmg emphasts m nursing today on standard setting (Kendall & Kitson 1986), it is important that cbents, regardless of their cultural group, should acbeve a good standard of care Many respondents felt that the standard of care given to ethmc-mmonty cbents was not as good as it should have been The reasons ated for this were mainly poor commumcation, a lack of knowledge of cultural differences and a lack of resources In some cases, communication was so poor it was impossible to identify mdividual dient problems at all If ethmc-mmonty cbents are to receive mdividualized care, then an assessment of dient problems must be made Some respondents appeared to accept the inevitability of poor communication and did nothmg to improve it It is difficult to find an explanahon for tbs Forrest (1989) found that, when dients were deemed hard to care for, nurses may expenence feebng of negativity, may distance themselves from the client, and may limit themselves to giving 'physical' or 'routine' care It may be that in these circumstances communication may not be so important Some respondents may have found that they could get by, and this may explam why they did bttle to improve communication It is urgent, therefore, that some attempt is made to develop cultural knowledge in nurse education and that nurses are helped and supported with commumcahon difficulties The inadequate interprehng and dietary resources descnbed by respondents must also be addressed Burrows (1983) argued that the nurse must promote an environment where the values, customs and spintual bebefs of an mdividual are respected The findings of this study suggest that such an environment is not being facilitated withm some pradice settmgs There appeared to be a lack of knowledge about cultural differences and an mabibty by respondents to find out about these differences fi-om cbents Many felt that guidelmes m dimcal areas would help However, without individual assessment, guidebnes would only mcrease stereotypmg of cbents and do bttle to improve care…”