Introduction. When Poland became a member of the Schengen area and joined the European Union, the borders were opened, and as a result, there was a mass influx of people of different values, people with a different way of life and cultural identity. Poland has experienced cultural and ethnic changes. Thus, society has started to face problems resulting from insufficient knowledge of other cultures and their customs. Aim. The aim of the study is to analyze the cultural competence of nurses working in anaesthesiology and intensive care units in Poland. Material and methods. The study included 292 nurses. It was conducted from August 2019 to the end of January 2020. The questionnaires were distributed in intensive care units, in medical facilities in Poznań, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Piła, Bydgoszcz and Chojnice. The research used the cross-sectional design with the use of a standardized questionnaire "Scale of Cultural Competence of Medical Personnel". Results. The results revealed that knowledge of cultures, religions and customs of patients from outside Polish culture among the personnel working in anaesthesiology was at medium level. It has been shown that a problem in caring for a patient who is culturally different is the downplaying and reluctance to take into account the customs and rules that apply in many other cultures. Despite the knowledge of nurses in ITUs, they do not document and do not take into account cultural conditions in the process of nursing and do not see a need to expand their knowledge on this subject. Conclusions. The level of knowledge in the field of transcultural nursing among personnel working in ITUs is average. Research has shown that there is a need for additional training lectures covering the scope of transcultural nursing.

Key words: culturally different patient, nurse, multiculturalism.