The effects of nurse practitioner cultural competence on Latina patient satisfaction

Abstract

The provision of culturally competent care leads to negotiation, mutual exchange of information, increased compliance, and improved patient-provider communication. Similarly, patient satisfaction with care is associated with increased compliance and greater continuity of care. Employers seeking to meet the healthcare demands of a growing Latino population must look at extrinsic values such as NPs' certification, cultural competence training, education, and ability to speak Spanish.

The Case for Studying Cultural Competence from the Perspective of the Hispanic Immigrant Patient: A State of the Science

“…Castro and Ruiz (2009) in their study comparing nurse practitioner levels of cultural competence with Latina patient satisfaction scores found that longer wait times were associated with lower satisfaction scores. A primary reason cited by the authors was that the patients often have to bring their children with them to an environment not conducive to the energy and exuberance of children (Castro & Ruiz, 2009 Keller (2008) found in studying Mexican parents' perceptions regarding their relationships with rural clinic nurses that the race and ethnicity of the practitioner is not as important as their ability to speak in the patient's language.…”

“…Having to wait up to 12 hours or more for an appointment has been shown to be a barrier to accessing care in this population (Cristancho, Garces, Peters, & Mueller, 2008;Derose, 2000;Nailon, 2004;Sorkin, Ngo-Metzger, & DeAlba, 2010) as the expectation is often for timely care with treatments that provide rapid results (Clark & Redman, 2007). Castro and Ruiz (2009) in their study comparing nurse practitioner levels of cultural competence with Latina patient satisfaction scores found that longer wait times were associated with lower satisfaction scores. A primary reason cited by the authors was that the patients often have to bring their children with them to an environment not conducive to the energy and exuberance of children (Castro & Ruiz, 2009 Keller (2008) found in studying Mexican parents' perceptions regarding their relationships with rural clinic nurses that the race and ethnicity of the practitioner is not as important as their ability to speak in the patient's language.…”

“…The concept of personalismo has been repeatedly found as an important element in culturally competent encounters (Clark & Redman, 2007;Cooper & Ballard, 2011;Keller, 2008). The idea of spending time visiting with a patient on a more personal level and making sure they understand what they need to during each visit often goes against the more time constrained clinical aspects of health care appointments in the U.S., but for the Hispanic immigrant, relationship building and fostering a respectful and sympathetic connection between provider and patient is at the heart of culturally competent health care (Bergmark, Barr, & Garcia, 2010;Castro & Ruiz, 2009;Clark & Redman, 2007;Cristancho, Garces, Peters, & Mueller, 2008;Keller, 2008;Lassetter & Baldwin, 2004;Nailon, 2004;Padilla & Villalobos, 2007;Wallace, DeVoe, Rogers, Protheroe, Rowlands, & Fryer, 2009).…”

“…Developing cultural competence is a process consisting of many stages including cultural desire, cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, cultural sensitivity, cultural interactions or encounters, and cultural skill (Burchum, 2002;Campinha-Bacote, 2006). Research has shown that unless nurses and other healthcare providers develop some measure of cultural competence, the risks of clients being non-compliant with treatment regimens, having low satisfaction with the care provided, and ultimately having poor patient outcomes are intensified (Castro & Ruiz, 2009;Taylor, 2005).…”

“…The studies included two case studies (Barone, 2010;Derose, 2000), ten qualitative studies using interviews or focus groups (Bergmark, Barr, & Garcia, 2010;Carbone, Rosal, Torres, Goins, & Bermudez, 2007;Clark & Redman, 2007;Collins, Villagran, & Sparks, 2008;Cristancho, Garces, Peters, & Mueller, 2008;Frazier, Garces, Scarinci, & Marsh-Tootle, 2009;Harari, Davis, & Heisler, 2008;Keller, 2008;Nailon, 2004;Warda, 2000); a descriptive correlational study (Castro & Ruiz, 2009); three reviews of the literature (Cooper & Ballard, 2011;Mayo, Sherrill, Sundareswaran, & Crew, 2007;Padilla & Villalobos, 2007); five studies using survey data (Gonzalez, Vega, & Tarraf, 2010;Johnson, Saha, Arbelaez, Beach & Cooper, 2004;Riffe, Turner, & Rojas-Guyler, 2008;Sorkin, NgoMetzger, & DeAlba, 2010;Wallace, DeVoe, Rogers, Protheroe, Rowlands, & Fryer, 2009), and a mixed methods study (Lassetter & Baldwin, 2004) While the majority of the selected studies focused on the patient's perspective, only a few studied cultural competence as a whole (Barone, 2010;Carbone, Rosal, Torres, Goins, & Bermudez, 2007;Nailon, 2004). The majority of studies focused on investigating aspects affecting cultural competence including themes such as barriers to health care (Bergmark, Barr, & Garcia, 2010;Collins, Villagran, & Sparks, 2008;Cristancho, Garces, Peters, & Mueller, 2008;Derose, 2000;Frazier, Garces, Scarinci, & MarshTootle, 2009;Harari, Davis, & Heisler, 2008;…”