Understanding Cultural Safety in Nursing Practice

Running head: CULTURAL SAFETY ESSAY
CULTURAL SAFETY ESSAY
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CULTURAL SAFETY ESSAY1
Step 1: Understanding the key concepts of cultural safety
Personal racism refers to an individual intentionally offending another individual or a
group of individual based on their skin colour. As stated by Spence et al. (2016), personal
racism is the process of maliciously discriminating on the basis of race with a presumed
belief that the offender’s race is superior to the victim. According to Fforde et al. (2013),
individuals making a racist comment defend their stance on the ground of freedom of speech.
Individuals supporting racism argue that the racist comments are not ‘racist’ and are just a
reflection of their personal opinion. As opposed to personal racism, institutional racism can
be defined as the policies or practices that are implemented in organizations which either
result in the promotion or exclusion of a specific group. Institutional racism is the practice of
racial discrimination that is mainly derived from the individuals who dictate a group of
prejudiced individuals.
An insight into the power of whiteness is reflected by the racist treatment of the white
nurses that denied care services to the indigenous Australians. In the discourse of
perpetuating institutional racism, the aboriginals were ill-treated and were made to sustain in
unhygienic living conditions. White privilege refers to the societal privilege or benefits
incurred to the community of individuals identified by the society as superior on account of
‘fairer skin complexion’ (Bell & Adams, 2013,P.8). The power of whiteness in nursing has
been identified in the form of getting higher designation within the organizational hierarchy.
In addition to this, the power of whiteness has also propagated the power to frame rules and
regulations perpetuate racial discrimination (Hamilton, 2017,P.72). Contemporary nursing
has identified the importance of fostering cultural safety after years of discrimination and
denial of equal rights and has therefore laid emphasis on the principles of cultural safety and
cultural competence within the healthcare workforce.

CULTURAL SAFETY ESSAY2
The concept of cultural safety is the philosophical commitment that understands the
social influence of social processes on health and devising nursing care. In other words,
cultural safety has been defined as a holistic concept that focuses on the provision of person-
centred care. According to a report published by Pauly et al. (2015), cultural safety has been
defined as the provision of care on the basis of the cultural preferences of the patient as well
as the family members. Provision of a culturally safe care emphasises on the principle of
imparting effective care to a patient who belongs to a different cultural background than that
of the care professional. The care professionals are expected to reflect upon their respective
cultural identity and acknowledges the importance of cultural specific considerations in the
process of care delivery (Hall & Fields, 2013,p.53,54). In contrast to cultural safety, cultural
competence refers to the relationship between the carer and the patient in a cross-cultural
context. It should be mentioned here that while cultural safety, focuses on the cultural
consideration of the patient, cultural competence determines the ability of the care
professional to render effective care by integrating the culture specific determinants into the
clinical context (Pauly et al., 2015,p.44).
Step 2: Reflection using the 5Rs of Reflection Framework
The paper titled, ‘Segregation and Protection’ revealed about the brutal impact of the
aboriginal protection policies, which in the name of protection practised discrimination and
denied basic rights of shelter, healthcare, education and voting to the aboriginals. I felt that
the community had been cornered and sustained trauma for generations. I feel that the
aloofness of the care-professionals in observing the fallacy of the legislation despite being
able to sense the plight of the aboriginals had led to the aggravation of the brutalities. I
believe nurses must have a clear understanding about the traumatic past of the aboriginals and
render effective care based on culture specific considerations.

CULTURAL SAFETY ESSAY3
Step 3: Integration and perpetuation of institutional racism within Australia
Research studies suggest that institutional racism has remained integrated within
Australia for over 50 years with discrimination prevailing due to the racist attitude and belief
of the dominating white majority (Nelson, 2013,p.100). Governmental negligence and non-
compliance with the human rights principles propounded by the United Nations can be
identified as the primary factors that led to the promotion of racial discrimination within
Australia. Legislations forbade indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Islander aboriginals the
right to citizenship (The Conversation, 2019). Aboriginals were considered a part of the
Australian population only in the year 1967 (Nelson, 2013,p.90). Despite the recognition, the
white policy was dominant and it oppressed the aboriginals in terms of reduced accessibility
to appropriate education, housing and healthcare facilities (Patrick & Moodie, 2016,p.63). In
this regard, the federal and state legislation pertaining to ‘stolen generations’ deserve a
special mention. The primary agenda of the enactment of this legislation was to remove the
half-caste children (children of aboriginal descent) so as to propagate a ‘white’ nation
(Cuthbert & Quartly, 2013,p.80). The brutal impact of the legislation lasted in between 1905
to 1967 (Hamilton, 2017,p.52). In addition to this, the educational policies for aboriginal
children since 1788 witnessed major policy shifts until the later-half of 1960 (Patrick &
Moodie, 2016). Aboriginal children suffered under an education system that excluded,
separated, segregated and actively removed them from their family members. Also, with
regard to employment opportunities, aboriginals were oppressed and were exploited and
forced to succumb to slavery (Hamilton, 2017,p.70). Also, the Australian constitution or the
parliament failed to recognize the basic right of access to healthcare facilities for the
indigenous aboriginals. History reveals that more than 700 people were forcibly removed
from their traditional ground to be a part of the ‘Lock Hospital’ experiments that lasted from
1908 to 1919 (The conversation, 2019). The plausible cause for the experiment has been