Enhancing cultural competency and empathy toward foreign patients for Korean nursing students through a simulation: A quasi-experimental study

Aim: This study aimed to develop a transcultural nursing simulation-based learning program with patients from the United Arab Emirates and evaluate its effects on cultural competence and empathy among undergraduate nursing students in South Korea. Background: The importance of cultural competency and empathy has increased with the increased number of foreign patients in Korea. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the top Middle Eastern countries from which patients visit Korea for medical services. Because South Korea is a largely homogenous country, foreign patients often experience difficulties in their hospitalizations when Korean nurses lack cultural competency in caring for them. To improve cultural competency, a practical form of education, such as a simulation, is necessary. In addition, the simulation module based on cultural competency model allowing nursing students to provide effective and culturally responsive services to ethnically diverse patients. Design: This quasi-experimental study used a non-randomized control group design with a convenience sample. Methods: The program was administered to 53 Korean undergraduate nursing students (26 control and 27 experimental). Fourteen teams of two students practiced infection prevention training with the mother of a 7-year-old child with immunodeficiency. Participants' cultural competency and empathy were assessed before and after the TN-SBL using an online survey. The effects of cultural competency and empathy were analyzed using a generalized estimation equation. Results: Nursing students in the TN-SBL group showed more positive improvement in cultural competence and had increased cognitive empathy levels than students in the control group. Conclusion: The simulation module developed in this study improved students' cultural competency and empathy levels. It is valuable because the scenario was developed based actual clinical cases of Emirati patients and their families. The simulation module was designed based on the cultural competency model to raise awareness of cultural diversity and allow students to directly practice culturally competent care. It can be used to educate Korean nurses and improve the quality of care provided to Arabic-speaking Muslim patients.