Improving Japanese nursing education by understanding “intercultural competence”

Abstract

There are approximately 2.4 million international residents in Japan in 2016. Seventy percent of these residents do not speak English. However, medical and nursing schools emphasize education in Medical English, rather than taking a broader approach that encompasses diverse cultures. This is why current healthcare professionals struggle in dealing with international patients, especially those from non-English speaking countries. Therefore, shifting the viewpoint from how we can technically support international patients to how we can improve the intercultural competence of healthcare professionals is critical. the aim of this literature review is to examine the similarities and differences between the intercultural competence in pedagogy and healthcare in Japan and the US by comparing literatures from both fields, and by clarifying how intercultural competence has been conceptualized as well as its significance. Results show that when comparing the concept of intercultural competence in pedagogy and healthcare, while the components are similar, the historical background of the concept and the social contexts in use are different (between the two disciplines). In order to understand the concept of intercultural competence, it is critically important to define Japan’s own interdisciplinary concept of intercultural competence in both healthcare and pedagogy.