Analysis of Emergency Department Nurse Attitudes Toward Caring for Ethnically Diverse Patients

Nurses in the Emergency Department (ED) care for patients from different races, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds. Because of this, it is imperative that nurses appreciate and respect ethnic views of health and illness as they care for culturally diverse individuals. The purpose of this study was to assess civilian and military ED nurse attitudes toward caring for ethnically diverse patients. This descriptive study was conducted at three south central U. S. hospitals. The sample consisted of Registered Nurses (N=4l) working in the ED who completed the investigator designed Cultural Care Questionnaire (CCQ), a measure of ED nurse attitudes toward caring for a culturally diverse population. No significant differences were found between CCQ responses and amount of minority exposure, nursing education, ethnic background, or cultural education of the sample. Significant differences in scores were found between gender, and between civilian and military nurses. Males received lower scores than females, and military nurses scored lower than civilian nurses, implying less positive attitudes. An age difference between civilian and military nurses was also found. Results suggest that cultural exposure is not significantly related to ED nurse attitudes. Relationships between gender, age, and workplace need further investigation before conclusions may be drawn.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Analysis of Emergency Department Nurse Attitudes Toward Caring for Ethnically Diverse Patients', published 1997 under ISBN 9781423569251 and ISBN 1423569253.