Nurses are responsible for their actions and put the patient, family, or community first. Ethical and moral principles are used in respecting the autonomy of persons. Cultural competence is a core element of nursing. Caring by the nurse is transcultural. Cultural competence and scientific competence are not hierarchical, but integrated in nursing action.
Nurses have a special accountability to transcend ethnocentrism.
A nurse cannot be effective if he or she is confined in the narrowness of one's own culture. The knowledge base of nursing is meaningful to the patient and the patient's needs and to the needs of the family and community. Such needs occur within a given social context. Nurses value cultural differences and strive to individualize knowledge for care. Nurses recognize the real and strive for the ideal.