Communication: Importance in Cultural Safety and Healthcare

This article discusses the vital role of communication in cultural safety and healthcare. It explores the impact of effective communication on patient care and outcomes, as well as the barriers created by bias and discrimination. The concept of cultural safety is also explained, emphasizing the need for healthcare professionals to engage with patients in a culturally safe and respectful manner.

Running head: COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1COMMUNICATION
Communication is a vital component of cultural safety. Without having any knowledge about
the processes of communication, the health care providers can misinterpret or overlook the health
related concern of a person. In appropriate communication can affect the disadvantaged minority
in accessing proper health services. Interpersonal communication can be defined as an exchange
of information between two or more people, by the means of verbal and non –verbal messages
(Chichirez and Purcărea 2018).
Intrapersonal communication, on the other hand can be defied as the communication that
takes internally with one’s self, that is internal vocalization or reflective thinking (Chichirez and
Purcărea 2018).
Communication is an important clinical skill that if performed efficiently facilitates the
growth of trust relationships between the patient and the medical staff. According to the studies,
interaction with e patients affect both the satisfaction level of the client and the perceived quality
of health care, and can contribute to a better performance of the medical unit (Riley 2015). In
order to provide a patient centered care, it is necessary to understand the perception of the
patient, explore his/her thoughts and emotions and the guiding them towards good health. The
health care consumers can be of any background or might speak any language (Riley 2015). It is
the duty of the health care workers to communicate properly by understanding the verbal or the
non-verbal cues. Besides, communication reduces the rate of any sorts of clinical errors and also
empowers the patient to take part in the decision making process of their own. It cannot be
denied that the aboriginal people cannot rely upon the help extended by the white people,
probably due to lack of trust. This is evident from Angela’s interview, who said, during her first
child she was so scared to seek help from the white people. This was obviously due to her past

2COMMUNICATION
experiences, when she was being removed from her mother for being an aboriginal. It is quite
shameful, that in spite of being so educated they still had to face with prejudices.
Bias in nursing practice can be termed as the conscious or the unconscious feelings, that the
guides their behavior of the work that they do. Unconscious bias among the nurses about the
culturally diverse people leads to difference in care provided to the patients (Hall et al.2017).
For example, in the interview, Angela, the registered nurse faced discrimination while she was in
the labor room. Each and every nurses reminded her someway that she was an aboriginal.
Bias in nursing displayed by the care providers, whether intentional or conscious creates a
barrier for the nurses providing care. The bias can be insidious creating wrong assumption of a
person, thus hindering the type of care provided to the customer. Unconscious bias among the
health care providers affect the type of care provided to the patient. Usher et al., (2017) have
suggested that experiences of the patients with discriminatory events can directly be associated
with negative health outcomes. Unconscious bias among the nurses can cause delay in the
provision of the standardized care or the culturally diverse patients might have to stand in the
long cue (Laverty, McDermott and Calma 2017). Racism and discrimination is one of the
precursors of unconscious bias that acts as a barriers to provide patient centered care (Hall et al.
2017). It is due to this that the patients with ethnic minorities that have experienced disparities in
health care services are not likely to return to get further treatment. This reduces the reliance
upon the caregivers.
The concept of cultural safety refers to empowerment of both the patient and he care
providers. Cultural safety is all about understanding culture and accepting their culture and the
inequalities that they receive in health care (Richardson, Yarwood and Richardson 2017). It also
means providing a conducive environment for the patients with diverse cultural background,

3COMMUNICATION
such that they can freely express their grievances in front of them (Pauly et al., 2017). The health
care professionals and the nurses are expected to engage with the patients in a culturally safe and
respectful way for fostering an open, honest and compassionate relationship and adhere to their
privacy and obligations (Jeffreys 2015). Culturally safe care is a way of providing power or
empowerment to the patient, which is an important component of providing autonomy to the
patient and facilitate a shared decision making (Riley 2015).. One example of a culturally safe
practices includes choice of right words while addressing the aboriginals. Angel had said that she
got in to education just to educate people about aboriginal and the prejudices that they face every
single day.
Verbal communication has been used in this scenario. In the video Angela had expressed her
fear that the white people can even take her child. Angela had shared discrimination while she
was trying to admit her son in the hospital, who contracted an anaphylactic reaction due to
peanut consumption. She experienced both ill-treatment and discrimination throughout the entire
procedure and was also threatened to have her over to the security, if they did not wait.
Limitations of these types of communication is that, it breaks the trust of the aboriginal
people, even if they approach with help as can be seen in case of Angela. Efficient
communication involves empathy and active listening. According to Angela, she had witnessed
these basic elements lacking among the nurses. In order to establish therapeutic relationship with
the client, nurses should indulge in active listening and understanding, such that the patients does
not feel devalued.
The nurses and health care workers have the responsibility to provide care, that contributes to
best for the individual they are caring for (Pauly et al., 2017). Considering the history of the
aboriginals and what they had faced, it was necessary for he concerned health care workers to

4COMMUNICATION
use right language while communicating with them, preserving their dignity and esteem.
Angela’s child could have been attended on a priority basis, since he needed immediate care.
However, it should be said that the care provided should be patient centered and will be of best
interest of the patient.

5COMMUNICATION
REFERENCES
Chichirez, C. M., and Purcărea, V. L. 2018. Interpersonal communication in healthcare. Journal
of medicine and life, 11(2), 119–122.
Hall, W.J., Chapman, M.V., Lee, K.M., Merino, Y.M., Thomas, T.W., Payne, B.K., Eng, E.,
Day, S.H. and Coyne-Beasley, T., 2015. Implicit racial/ethnic bias among health care
professionals and its influence on health care outcomes: a systematic review. American journal
of public health, 105(12), pp.e60-e76.
Jeffreys, M.R., 2015. Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action,
and innovation. Springer Publishing Company.
Laverty, M., McDermott, D.R. and Calma, T., 2017. Embedding cultural safety in Australia’s
main health care standards. The Medical Journal of Australia, 207(1), pp.15-16.
Pauly, B.B., McCall, J., Browne, A.J., Parker, J. and Mollison, A., 2015. Toward cultural safety.
Advances in Nursing Science, 38(2), pp.121-135.
Richardson, A., Yarwood, J. and Richardson, S., 2017. Expressions of cultural safety in public
health nursing practice. Nursing inquiry, 24(1), p.e12171.
Riley, J.B., 2015. Communication in nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Usher, K., Mills, J., West, R. and Power, T., 2017. Cultural safety in nursing and midwifery.
Contexts of Nursing: An Introduction, pp.337-350.