Education and practice: dynamic partners for improving cultural competence in public health.

This article reports on a collaborative project linking Washington State University College of Nursing Vancouver and Southwest Washington Health District. Designed to improve the cultural competence and public health skills of registered nurses who are baccalaureate student nurses, quantitative and qualitative evaluative analyses were used to document and describe themes and strategies. The Inventory to Assess the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals (IAPCC) was useful in measuring the students' progress toward cultural competence, and significant changes were documented. Themes that lead students toward population-focused nursing practice were uncovered as well as barriers to the process of cultural competency.