Cultural Diversity in Finnish Health Care: A COMPARISON OF NURSE MANAGERS, NATIVE-FINNISH REGISTERED NURSES, AND IMMIGRANT REGISTERED NURSES PERSPECTIVES AND EXPERIENCES OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE FINNISH HEALTHCARE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Background: There is a global scarcity of healthcare workers, particularly in Western countries such as Finland resulting in a greater reliance on foreign-trained professionals to fill the gap in the nursing workforce. This increased demand has increased cultural diversity in the workplace. As such, cultural awareness needs to be addressed. Objective: This thesis explores nurse managers, Finnish-native and non-native Finnish registered nurses' perspectives and experiences of cultural diversity in multicultural team environments in Finnish healthcare workplaces. Methods: Qualitative research through semi-structured interviews was used for the studies guided by the theoretical framework of Cultural Care Diversity and Universality of Madeleine Leininger. The authors seek to answer the research questions: What are the benefits and challenges of working in a multicultural healthcare team? How can cultural diversity be encouraged? Results: Despite the challenges faced such as communication barriers, multicultural team environments have many benefits such as promoting health care equity. Ways to encourage cultural diversity such as cultural awareness training and equal employment opportunities were identified as working solutions to enhance team harmony in multicultural teams. Conclusion: Encouraging cultural diversity will address health inequality, build trust, minimize workplace conflict, retain nurses, and address nursing shortages and the end results will be profitability for the entire organization.