ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nature of the knowledge and skills required by nurses for implementing cultural care in their everyday nursing practice. It explores the need for nurses to have an overall awareness of cultures, their health and illness beliefs and daily living practices, in particular those that they may come across less frequently. The nursing process offers a problem-solving framework for care planning and delivery. This involves four main responsibilities for the nurse, namely assessment of patient needs and subsequent planning, implementation and evaluation of the care. The chapter examines seven of the nursing models or frameworks that identify the need for cultural awareness and cultural knowledge, to care for patients and their families. The importance of communication in a nurse–patient relationship is viewed in relation to both verbal and non-verbal forms, especially during the assessment process. Social time reflects the 'patterns and orientations that relate to social processes and to the conceptualisation and ordering of social life'.
