Why do I need cultural desire?

Cultural desire can be defined as a natural inclination to engage in the cultural competence process that is characterized by passion, commitment, and caring. True competence occurs when a nurse voluntarily chooses to develop the awareness, knowledge, and skill that will improve the effectiveness of cross-cultural encounters (Campinha-Bacote, 2002).

Cultural competence is a situation in which actions definitely speak louder than words.

Nursing is an art;
and if it is to be made an art,
it requires as exclusive a devotion,
as hard a preparation,
as any painter's or sculptor's work;

for what is the having to do with
dead canvas or cold marble,
compared with having to do with the
living body - the temple of God's spirit?

It is one of the Fine Arts;
I had almost said
the finest of the Fine Arts

~ Florence Nightingale, 1859
(Retrieved on 3/12/05 from http://www.mnu.edu/nursing/)

Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, identified the art of nursing many years ago. Today, nurse leaders continue to describe the art of nursing as caring. Jean Watson, even created a theory of human caring. Nurses care by being compassionate, considerate, respectful, and concerned. They are able to put themselves in the patient's situation and better understand the patient's needs.

Caring people want to understand and help others including those from different cultural backgrounds and do what it takes to gain understanding and extend help.

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