ETNA is pleased to share a new blog contribution from Dr Sabina Ličen, Associate Professor of Nursing at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Primorska.
Dr Ličen is a nurse by background and an educator by profession, with a PhD in Educational Sciences. Her teaching and research focus on innovative and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning in health professions education, with particular expertise in quantitative and mixed-methods research design.
In her latest blog, Building culturally responsive healthcare starts in the classroom, Dr Ličen reflects on a critical challenge facing healthcare education across Europe. While cultural competence is widely embedded in policy documents and curricula, many newly qualified healthcare professionals still feel unprepared to navigate the realities of culturally diverse clinical practice.
The blog argues that the gap does not lie in a lack of theory or frameworks, but rather in how cultural responsiveness is taught. Drawing on educational research, Dr Ličen highlights the limitations of traditional teaching approaches and calls for more experiential and reflective learning methods that allow students to practise complex professional behaviours in real contexts.
Her reflections offer an important reminder that developing culturally responsive healthcare professionals requires more than introducing new terminology or frameworks. It requires thoughtful curriculum design, active learning, and educators who view teaching as a professional discipline in its own right.
👉 Read the full blog: Building culturally responsive healthcare starts in the classroom
