Cultural Safety

Running Head: CULTURAL SAFETY
Cultural Safety
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Personal racism and systemic/institutional racism
According to Paradies et al. (2015), racism is defined as discrmination, bias or
antagonism which is focused against a certain individual or group of another race anchored on
the belief that an individual’s race is superior to a different race. It is vital when reflecting on
debate of racism that a concise and clear distinction is made between the various types of racism,
that is, individual racism and institutional racism. Individual racism is described by overt acts
carried out by an individual that result in death or injury of the victim. It can also cause assaults,
destruction of property as well as verbal abuse. Systemic racism is concerned with the way
racism is built or engraved right into every level of society. Institutional or systemic racism can
also be described as racist policies as well as discriminative practices in institutions like
healthcare centers, governments agencies which routinely creates unjust outcomes for the
individuals of color. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been subjected to
personal and systemic racism especially in healthcare delivery (Hussain, Katzenellenbogen,
Sanfilippo, Murray & Thompson, 2018). Thus, they do not receive adequate and quality health
care as compared to their non-indigenous counterparts in Australia (Priest, Paradies, Stewart &
Luke, 2011).
The power dynamics associated with the concept of ‘whiteness’ and describe how it may relate
to contemporary nursing practice in Australia
There is no denying or dispute that the Aboriginal Australians’ health is both worse and
very poor as compared to that of the non-Aboriginal people (Durey, 2010). The life expectancy
of the aboriginals at birth is approximately twenty-one years less for male and nineteen years less
for female as compared to the non-aboriginals. The disparity in healthcare provision in Australia

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can be attributed to racism and discriminative practices especially by the white people who
consider themselves superior to the indigenous people (Australian Government, 2013). The
Aboriginal Australians have been disadvantaged across a myriad of health, economic, social,
political indicators. Such underprivileges expose them to racism across all sectors of modern-day
society leading to concomitant deleterious impacts on their wellbeing and health. With the
concept of whiteness, practicing nursing in Australia has been pegged on the color of the skin of
an individual (Shute, 2017). For instance, it is very difficult for an Aboriginal nurse to have the
same opportunities in healthcare as compared to non-Aboriginal nurses. The institutional and
personal racism practiced by the ‘white’ Australians has broaden the equality gap between the
aboriginal and non-aboriginal nurses.
The concepts of cultural safety and cultural competency
Cultural safety is the ability to evaluate power imbalances, colonization, institutional
discrimination, and acceptable to the differences. Cultural safety is normally concerned with
offering quality health care which fits with the familiar and known cultural norms and values of
an individual accessing the services, which may differ from other individual’s own and the
dominant culture. Cultural safety has an aim to promote the delivery of care services by the
identification of power relationship between the person receiving the services and the healthcare
professional, and empowering the service user to maximize the services provided fully.
Addressing the various cultural inequalities through the lens of cultural safety allows healthcare
providers to enhance healthcare access for populations, aggregates and populations, acknowledge
and recognize we come from different cultures and expose the historical, political, and social
contexts of healthcare. Cultural competence defined as the ability to effectively relate with
individuals of various cultures, aids to ensure the needs of people in the community are

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addressed. In practice, both organizations and individuals can be effectively culturally competent
(Hill & Mills, 2013). It is significant to state that the concept of cultural competence means to be
responsive as well as respectful to the health practices and beliefs, cultural as well as linguistic
needs of the diverse population groups. Cultural competence is viewed as independent inputs
while cultural safety is the dependent outcome (Dolan & Kawamura, 2015). Thus, whether an
individual feel culturally safe is highly dependent in part on whether the healthcare provider is
culturally competent.
Reflection of Inequality in healthcare in Australia using 5Rs
Reporting; Inequality has existed between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians
especially in the healthcare sector. I can reportedly and empirically state that the Aboriginals
have structurally and institutionally been abandoned when it comes to equitable distribution of
resources in the health sector. Responding; I feel that this is not morally, ethically and culturally
since everybody has an inherent right to be treated equally and justly without any form of
prejudice and discrimination. Relating, reasoning and reconstructing; As a student of nursing
who is guided by the nursing code of ethics, professionalism, and principles it is prudent that the
government of Australia reduces the gap of inequality between the indigenous and non-
indigenous population.
How institutional racism has enacted and perpetuated in regards to access to health, education
and employment by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia
Disparities in mortality and morbidity rates between the indigenous and non-indigenous
are well documented and are increasing at an alarming rate (Möller et al. 2016) even though
these statistics is not new and is been subject to inquiry for numerous years, the Aboriginals are