Cultural Safety Australia Research Paper 2022

Running head: CULTURAL SAFETY 1
Cultural Safety
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation
Due date

Cultural safety 2
Cultural safety in the context of health care refers to the ability of healthcare providers to
provide care that meets the social, psychological and emotional needs of the people. It is
therefore essential for health workers to understand their own culture as well as the culture of the
people they provide care to. The Australian society is a multicultural society consisting of both
white people and indigenous people who include the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Cultural safety is important in the Australian healthcare system in order to improve the quality of
service through reflective practice and self-awareness of the healthcare team to get to higher
levels of cultural competence. This paper is a reflective piece that explores my reflective practice
skills and cultural self-awareness that will enable me to provide a patient centered approach to
care for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are among the first inhabitants of the
Australian continent. However, they make up less than 10 percent of the current population in
the continent (Cusack 2019). What accounts for the paradox is the fact that the aboriginal
populations have been exposed to social economic injustices through colonialism, social neglect
and discrimination. These challenges have affected access to care and other essential services
such as education which has not only affected access to quality health care but also significantly
lowered their life expectancy. The Australian government has had awakening in all spheres of
care to shift their focus and attention towards service delivery of the aboriginal population with
the aim of restoring some of their lost cultural relevance. Key among the efforts include teaching
the topic of cultural competence to train workers to deliver quality and cultural sensitive care to
multicultural societies. The continued erosion of the aboriginal culture, language, tradition and
values have made the healthcare system to become insensitive to the needs and beliefs of the
aboriginal people.

Cultural safety 3
In my nursing and midwifery journey, I have come to learn how to treat all people with
respect and understanding. In my practice, I have always been guided by personal values such as
kindness, honesty, compassion and justice. Incorporated with my cultural understanding of the
aboriginal people who have faced several health inequalities and difficulties in accessing
healthcare, I have come to develop and improve my skills in providing culturally safe health
care. Intercultural awareness depends on the ability to incorporate cultural humility and cultural
responsiveness in care in care.
Cultural humility helps me to understand my own culture through reflection, inquiry and
self-critique. It helps me to tolerate and understand weaknesses in other cultures by first learning
weaknesses in my own culture. In addition, I have also come to learn of cultural relativity which
means that culture is dynamic in the sense that it changes with place and time. Lastly, cultural
humility is a lifelong learning process that helps me to coexist with people through mutual
understanding and respect.
Cultural safety is dependent on high degrees self-awareness among health workers. Self-
awareness helps me to ensure a good work life balance and a resilient approach to practice. Self-
awareness has a role to play in all of the four areas of professional practice such as understanding
patients, improving cooperation ability, obedience to laws and policies and developing resilience
and work-life balance (Parnell, Morris, and Jacobs 2017). Self-awareness has helped me to
understand my role in the lives of patients and colleagues. It guides me in creating a rapport with
the society I work in and in developing a sense of responsibility over the people I am entrusted
with. This has helped me to always be ready to help and to work in the best interests of the
patients and the society.