Cultural competence is paramount to Essential 1: Liberal Education in the proposed new AACN Baccalaureate Essentials. In an effort to assist faculty with incorporating this critical information into the BSN curriculum, AACN has developed a "Toolkit for Cultural Competent Education". This toolkit provides extensive resources including content and teaching-learning activities.

The AACN toolkit delineates the 5 competencies necessary for baccalaureate nurses to provide culturally competent care. Important definitions, concepts, nursing models, strategies and resources are identified. The resource clearly explains the Campinha-Bacote Model, Giger and Davidhizer's Model of Transcultural Nursing, Leninger's Cultural Care and Universality Theory Model, Purnell's Model of Transcultural Healthcare, and Specter's Health Transitions Model. Resources are provided for further information regarding each of these models. Clinically focused teaching strategies are presented. The toolkit also offers references to current nursing research in the area of cultural competence. The toolkit provides links to journals, websites, and professional organizations that are useful in teaching cultural competence.

The Culture Competence Toolkit is available in pdf format at: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/toolkit.pdf

Source: The American Association of Colleges of Nursing.http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/cultural.htm. Accessed September 17, 2008.