Reflection on Culturally Safe Care

Running head: REFLECTION ON CULTURALLY SAFE CARE
Reflection on culturally safe care
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
REFLECTION ON CULTURALLY SAFE CARE
Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders are the first people of Australia who had been
subjected to a varied range of trauma and discrimination since the period of colonization in the
late 18th century, which has somehow given rise to health disparities (Durey & Thompson, 2012).
However, with the implementation of the closing the gap policy and indigenous advancement
strategy had been extremely helpful in facilitating health equality and accessibility in indigenous
health, and the culturally safe care is one of the greatest element of service delivery for
aboriginals. In order to provide culturally safe care to the patients, the health care professionals
also need a robust knowledge and understanding of the aboriginal culture and culturally safe care
(Herring et al., 2013).
The greatest impact on my personal views regarding cultural safety and indigenous health
had been the influence of my family, my upbringing and my personal culture. I have been
brought up in a very open cultural background where both my parents and my grandparents
taught me to respect individuality of different cultural backgrounds and respect the cultural
diversity. I had the opportunity to grow up in a multiethnic community and had ethnically
diverse friends while growing up. As a result I had the opportunity of exposure to a few different
cultures and their traditions and it helped me broaden my horizon regarding diversity and helped
me principles of equality and treat every individual equally. I believe these principles that have
developed slowly since my childhood has helped me entertain a more empathetic and
compassionate approach to the health needs of the aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders. Along
with that, I believe while communicating with the aboriginals, treating them as equal is
fundamentally important. It not only facilitates better patient engagement but also helps the
patient feel valued and empowered facilitating better cooperation.