International Portuguese Nurse Leaders’ Insights for Multicultural Nursing

Abstract

Cultural diversity among patients and healthcare workers in the Portuguese healthcare organizations will increasingly challenge nurse managers to develop favorable nursing work environments and to improve culturally congruent care. Aim: This study aimed to identify nurse managers’ interventions that improve favorable nursing work environments in multicultural nursing teams and culturally congruent care for patients, based on Portuguese nurse leaders’ experience in international settings. Methods: A qualitative and exploratory study was conducted as the first stage of a sequential exploratory mixed study design. A convenience sample of Portuguese nurses with leadership experience of multicultural teams was recruited to participate in one focus group. Qualitative data were recorded and transcribed for content analysis. Text segments were organized into themes and categories with the support of the qualitative software IRaMuTeQ. Results: Nurse managers’ interventions, such as adapting the leadership style, thanking nurses for their work, adjusting the unit to attend to patients’ worship practices, and supporting foreign nurses in learning the local language, were categorized into three main themes and five categories—transcultural nursing leadership assumptions, capitalizing nurses, improving culturally congruent care, team problems and strategies, and improving effective communication. Conclusions: These findings corroborate international studies, advocate for capable nurse managers to lead in a globalized world, and are suitable to develop a transcultural nursing leadership questionnaire.