Introduction. More and more people from other cultures (representing ethnic, national or religious groups) live in Poland. Increasingly, they become patients of Polish hospitals. Satisfying bio-psycho-social and spiritual needs of culturally different patients and providing them with high quality nursing care becomes a challenge for nursing staff. This requires not only great knowledge and skills, but also shaping the attitudes of cultural sensitivity by the earlier acquisition of cultural competence. Aim. The aim of the study was to determine how often the nursing staff takes care of the culturally different patient (ethnic, national and religious), whether the cultural diversity of the patient affects the quality of nursing care and what problems nursing staff encounters while caring. Material and methods. The study was conducted in the Wojewódzki Szpital Zespolony im. Ludwika Perzyny in Kalisz among 156 nurses. The research tool was the authors’ own questionnaire consisting of 18 questions: 16 closed and 2 open ones. Results. Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma and Ukrainians belonged to national, ethnic and religious minorities, who were most often looked after by the respondents. The cultural background of the patient, according to 3/4 of the respondents, did not affect the quality of their nursing care. The most common problems for the respondents were: the language barrier (74%), the patient's and his/her family's approach to blood transfusion (48%), culture / religion ignorance (21%) and material and organizational conditions in the workplace (14%). Almost two thirds of the respondents believed that the knowledge of nursing staff from other cultures or religions was needed. Conclusions. Most respondents during their career took care of a patient coming from cultural minority (ethnic, national or religious). The cultural diversity of the patient in the opinion of the respondents did not affect their care over the patient. The most common problem for nursing staff was the language barrier, the patient's and his/her family's attitude to blood transfusion and ignorance of the culture.

Key words: multiculturalism, nursing care, culturally different patients.