A nurse is telling a new mother from Africa that she shouldn't carry her baby in a sling created from a large rectangular cloth.

The African woman tells the nurse that everyone in Mozambique carries babies this way.

The nurse believes that bassinets are safer for infants. What is this scenario an example of?

The action that best demonstrates cultural competence is for the nurse to ask the clients what matters most to them in their illness and treatment.

Cultural competence describes the ability to effectively interact with people belonging to different cultures.

The importance of cultural competence in nursing focuses on health equity through patient-centered care, which requires seeing each patient as a unique person1.

Choice B is not the correct answer because telling clients that they should not continue taking herbs does not demonstrate cultural competence.

Choice C is not the correct answer because asking clients if they utilize shaman does not demonstrate cultural competence.

Choice D is not the correct answer because telling clients that they should follow the provider’s orders does not demonstrate cultural competence.

The nurse’s priority action when an eight-year-old child is eating a hotdog and begins coughing is to promote coughing.

Coughing is the body’s natural way of trying to clear an obstruction from the airway.

Choice A is not the correct answer because beginning the Heimlich maneuver quickly is not the first action that should be taken.

Choice B is not the correct answer because telling the child to put his hands by his neck to signify that he is choking is not the first action that should be taken.

Choice D is not the correct answer because leaving the child alone to find a phone is not the first action that should be taken.