As student nurses, we are required to provide effective practice and prioritise people by delivering person-centred care, as outlined in the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code (NMC).
Reflection helps us reflect on past experiences and identify areas for improvement, thereby increasing self-awareness, learning, and quality of care.
Throughout clinical placements, student nurses will encounter people from diverse backgrounds, socioeconomic classes, ethnicities and varying levels of health literacy.
“We must think creatively about how to create more welcoming and psychologically safe environments”
As student nurses, we must prepare to provide equal care, respect, and dignity to all individuals. But how confident do you feel in looking after somebody who doesn’t look like you, practises a different faith, has opposite politics or doesn’t speak English?
Student nurses must approach their work with non-judgemental attitudes and regularly reflect on their biases.
As a mental health student nurse from the global majority, I notice systemic problems within the mental health sector. People who do not speak English or have limited proficiency often lack access to daily translators, except during their weekly ward round, which typically lasts 30 to 60 minutes.
Imagine not being able to speak to somebody for seven days in a strange environment full of strangers who are giving you psychotropic medication that you might not even know what it is, and being stopped from going outside when you do not have Section 17 leave as yet.
The food provided is not from their culture, and their dietary needs may be limited in options. Patients can be monitored within 15 minutes, hourly, at arm’s length or eyesight level observations.
Within eyesight observation, this can also mean no privacy in the bathroom with somebody of the same sex. In many cultures from the global majority, privacy is paramount, which can lead to mistrust and a lack of dignity.
As student nurses, we must think creatively about how to create more welcoming and psychologically safe environments. This includes learning about what matters to the person by asking them and educating ourselves about different cultures, customs and religions.
Stigma about mental health problems is universal, but in some cultures it is more deeply rooted. This might include people not wanting to tell their families or friends, as this could potentially affect their reputation, status, and even marriage prospects, potentially impacting their other family members.
We must understand that, as nursing students, we have a real privilege in getting to know people, but we must remind ourselves that we are strangers when we first meet patients and not take it for granted that they will open up straight away with private and personal information.
Trust, respect and compassion are built and take time. Think often about how you can lead to provide transcultural care on placement and teach other staff?
Patients from the global majority tend to be stereotyped in the mainstream media, and statistics show that they receive poorer care due to institutionalised racism in health care.
NHS England, NHS Confederation, and the NMC have created an anti-racist resources for nursing and midwifery staff. But what does that mean in practice for nursing students? How do you ensure you are providing adequate cultural competency nursing for your patients?
It is essential to consider the intersectionality of individuals and treat them as unique. Just because one patient is from a particular culture or religion, it does not automatically mean they are practising or following certain traditions.
It is essential to remain curious and observe to identify the gaps in contemporary mental health nursing. How many of the students and staff see themselves as a barrier? Do you reflect on your feelings when you are uncomfortable and discuss them in supervision?
As student nurses, we have to keep people who are underrepresented and marginalised at the forefront of nursing. Ask yourself, whose voice is missing?
How can I become more inclusive? How do I make practice more psychologically safe? What biases do I have that I need to unlearn? Am I an advocate for all?
Mushtag Kahin is a third-year mental health nursing student at Buckinghamshire New University and Nursing Times student editor 2025-26.
