Cultural competence: Nurses caring for students in university health institutions

Introduction: Nursing professionals are a strategic pillar in university health institutions; therefore, they need to have skills to provide care, from the cultural. Objective: To describe how cultural competence is expressed in the participating nurses and how students perceive the care they receive. Method: Qualitative ethnographic research was conducted with nurses and students from university health institutions and regular students who received nursing care at the health institution. Information was collected through participant observation and ethnographic interview. The information was analyzed in ATLAS.ti version 8.0 software. Results: five nurses and nine students participated. The cultural theme emerged: "I know and enjoy working with the students, I am kind, I attend them from the being and I do the procedures from the knowledge", sustained in two patterns: the students are different and I enjoy working with them because I detect situations and I learn; and, I am kind, I attend from the being and I make procedures from the knowledge. Conclusions: cultural competence in nurses is expressed from the attribute of kindness as a central element in the care of university students and their work performance from knowledge.