Background Ethiopian nurses are facing a culturally diverse population predominantly due to the coexistence of multicultural and diverse ethnics in the country. This study aimed to assess the level of cultural competency and its associated factors among nurses working in tertiary hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on nurses working in tertiary hospitals of Addis Ababa city from March 1 to April 30, 2018. A systematic random sampling technique was

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... ed to select 352 nurses. Data were collected using an English version self-administered cultural competence questionnaire for nurses scale. Data was entered into Epi data manager version 4.2.2 and exported to SPSS software version 20.0 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Results A total of 343 participants were involved in the study with a response rate of 97.4%. The overall cultural competence level of participants was low to moderate (1.94 ± 0.65) with the highest mean was scored for cultural sensitivity (2.54 ± 0.69) and the lowest mean was scored for cultural skill (1.62 ± 0.98). Participants' age, religion, level of education, work experience, current role, spoken languages beside Amharic and English, previous cultural care education, work experience beside the current hospital, the experience of caring for diverse patients and availability of interpreter service were the factors significantly associated with cultural competence at p < 0.05. Conclusion The overall cultural competence of nurses was low to moderate and influenced by several factors. Therefore, nurses and other responsible bodies should struggle to improve the cultural competence of nurses. Furthermore, a national large-scale study with patient's perspectives was recommended.