Role of Nurses in Addressing Health Needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

This study explores the role of nurses in addressing the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It discusses the concepts of personal and institutional racism, the power dynamics associated with whiteness, and the importance of cultural safety and cultural competency in nursing practice. The study also examines how culturally safe nursing practices can address racism and improve access to healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Nursing Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
STEP 1.............................................................................................................................................1
Comparison and contrasting of personal racism and institutional racism..............................1
Power dynamic associated with the concept of whiteness and how it related to contemporary
nursing practice in Australia...................................................................................................1
Comparing and contrasting the concept cultural safety and cultural competency.................2
STEP 2.............................................................................................................................................2
Reflection on the problems of aboriginal and racism.............................................................2
STEP 3.............................................................................................................................................2
How institutional racism has been enacted in regards to indigenous people’s access to health
care, education and employment............................................................................................2
STEP 4.............................................................................................................................................3
How culturally safe nursing practice address personal and institutional racism which impacts
on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s access to healthcare (300).......................3
Reflection on role of nurses in addressing health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people in culturally safe way....................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Nursing is a process which involves a continuous and collaborative care of people of all ages
Butcher & et.al., (2018). This study is going to show importance of nurses in providing
healthcare and other services to Aboriginal people. Further, it will also show difference between
cultural safety an competencies. Culturally safe nursing practice also addresses some personal as
well as institutional racism which impacts on health of Aboriginal Australian.
STEP 1
Comparison and contrasting of personal racism and institutional racism
Individual or personal racism or discrimination happens when an individual believes himself to
be superior to others because of some factors such as their skin colour, ethnicity, education and
others. On the other hand, institutional racism occurs when natural and physical resources, power
and external opportunities are being distributed unequally and to only certain group of people
such as those who are white. So, it is one of the main differences. In both types of racism, mainly
black and lack of education of people suffer and feel discrimination. It is called one of the main
similarities and a certain group of people feel discriminated Flower, (2017). For example: White
people or a group of people who are white in colour and on the basis of their skin colour they
believe that other black people are not as like them and they lack in something. On this behalf
they create personal racism. On the other hand, when resource and opportunities to black people
is not given equally in organizations are consider as institutional racism.
Power dynamic associated with the concept of whiteness and how it related to contemporary
nursing practice in Australia
Whiteness has been institutionalised in health care services. As per the power in this context, it
can be said that white race get privilege as per the social norm. In the context of nursing,
Whiteness refers to white dominance in the system of nursing which result in developing a
culture of power as well as control which not respect differences. This power dynamic of
whiteness affect nursing practices to the great extent (Tate and Page, 2018). These differences in
nursing system, lower morale of black race and group of people. It directly affects their health
care services which decreases productivity and quality of patients’ health care. It can also be said
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that this power dynamic and differences become the reason of cultural violence which impacts
on patients’ health in a negative manner.
Comparing and contrasting the concept cultural safety and cultural competency
Cultural safety in nursing refers nursing practices as well as an environment which is safe in all
socially and emotionally manner. It also include safe environment in which all people feel safe
physically and in an environment where, there is no assault challenges of their identity. On thee
other hand, cultural competency can be defined as an ability of understanding, communicating
with an effective interaction with people of different cultures. It also refers a willingness of
people of developing their attitude towards cultural differences. So, it can be said that both terms
are related to equality Curtis & et.al., (2019). Cultural safety takes people beyond cultural
awareness and cultural competencies focuses on skills and attitudes of people.
STEP 2
Reflection on the problems of aboriginal and racism
In the context of problem which Aboriginal and Torres Islander people face, I can say that these
types of people are being discriminated by other group of people. They do not have opportunity
to compete high school due to lack of access of education and also have higher rates of drug as
well as alcohol consumption. Due to this consumption to the great extent they increase violence
which also affects their mental and physical health in a negative manner. I can also say that they
have absolute right to live in freedom and peace but attitudes of non-aboriginal people create this
difference and problem Smith, (2018).
STEP 3
How institutional racism has been enacted in regards to indigenous people’s access to health
care, education and employment
In the context of indigenous people, it can be said that they find difficulties to access effective
mainstream primary healthcare services Nichols, (2017). In this context, it can be said that
institutional racism act can help them out in having access to all important and necessary things
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such as health, employment and education. Institutional racism refers an ability of people which
increases their attitude towards developing this group of people and creating an environment of
equality. Racial discrimination act is Australia’s federal legislation on racial discrimination. It is
important and timely not only because of around 50 years of institutional racism being in
vocabulary but also because all people are thinking very hard regards race relations in the race of
white supremacy. By developing this act of institutional racism, Aboriginal people can have
better access to healthcare, education as well as employment which can improve their lives and
quality Reading and Greenwood, (2018). Despite legal prohibitions on racial discrimination or
Aboriginal people, various forms of institutional racism continue unabated. Part of this
argument, it can be said that political changes are associated with the influence of neoliberalism
on social policy have worsened the institutional racism problem and then redefined the link
between welfare as well as criminalization.
STEP 4
How culturally safe nursing practice address personal and institutional racism which impacts on
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s access to healthcare
In the context of nursing practices, it can be said that it plays a vital role in removing
racism as well as improving health of all age group and culture of people. Nursing practices does
not only focus on addressing needs of patients but also they identify personal as well as
institutional racism which affects Aboriginal people’s access to healthcare services. Nurses are
more likely to engage with all age group and culture of people in a respectful way to foster
honest and professional relationship. It improves indigenous palliative care services. Some these
types of strategies include: symbolic gesture, deferring clients and their family. In addition, in
the context of culturally safe practices, it can be said that it contributes to organizational change
and decolonized care Schil & Caxaj, (2019). In this type of practices, nurses focus on engaging
patients in service planning which makes them feel valued and respected. It changes their
attitude towards Aboriginal people and increases willingness of other people to create an
environment where all group of people can have equal access to healthcare, education and
employment.
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Culturally safe nursing practices focuses on self awareness of clinicians’ own
culture and positional power Cultural Safety Strategies for indigenous Palliative Care, (2019). It
also increases their knowledge and skills which makes them able to interact with indigenous and
all group of people. It is also stated that clinicians’ and nurses limited knowledge of diverse
culture views regards to death and appropriate approaches to palliative care services and support.
So, it can be said that culturally safe nursing practices plays an important part as it allows people
to identify their own belief as well as values in order to recognize indices of power interest in
any type of interaction.
STEP 5
Reflection on role of nurses in addressing health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people in culturally safe way
With the help of 5Rs of reflection i can analyse and can say that nurses play a vital role in not
only addressing health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander but also improve their
health lives. As per the main element of this model of reporting, I can say nurses are known as
one of the main important player in healthcare field as they are uniquely positioned to initiate as
well as sustain contact with Aboriginal Australians in healthcare workplaces. One of the main
aim of nurses in healthcare about Aboriginal people is to increase equity in access to healthcare
and support them in gaining better levels of health Sayers & et.al., (2017). As per my view I can
say that there are mainly 4 main strategies which are being undertaken by nurses in improving
health of Aboriginal people such as: having strong leadership, workforce stability, growing
capacity with technology and training and collaboration or working well together.
Another element of 5Rs model which is responding, I can respond and can say that
toward roles o nurses is there are requirement of having some skills. Nurses have several skills
which make them able to improve health of Aboriginal people such as: Empathy,
communication, decision-making and time management. I think that empathy and
communication is a vital for their success. Empathy means having ability to understand as well
as share feeling of others. By having this ability, nurses make their patients and Torres Islanders
make feel comfortable which is one of the main important thing to do.
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In addition, as per the other element relating, I can relate nurses styles of solving issues
with issues which Aboriginal people face. I can say that success of healthcare depend and related
to strategy and ways in which manner nurses try to cure them. For example: Some nurses and
healthcare focuses on improving retention of Aboriginal health professionals. Whereas, other
focuses on improving workforce skills Strategies to strengthen the workforce of the Indigenous
Primary Healthcare Sector, (2019). I can say that all nurses mainly focuses on education and
training to Aboriginal people in order to make them able to have access on healthcare and other
compulsory services. So, it is important for nurses to fit their style of performing as per the
current situation. By doing this, they can accomplish their goals and improve health of patients
of any group and culture.
As per the reasoning element of reflection I can explain the main issue and problem
which is associated with Aboriginal people as well as nurses which they face while providing
healthcare services. Racism and inequality is one of the main issue and sometimes nurses face
problems in engaging such kind of people in their process of healthcare.
So, I can conclude the overall situation and role of nurses that their capabilities, willingness and
focus on providing equal access to aboriginal people make them able to accomplish their goals.
By making an effective partnership with the Government of Australia and others such types of
organizations they improve the health of people Bearskin & et.al., (2019).
Conclusion
From the above study it has been summarized that nurses played a vital role in providing
and addressing healthcare needs for Aboriginal and Torres Islander people. It has also shown
comparison between personal and situational racism. Cultural safety and cultural competencies
also have some similarities and differences.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Bearskin, R.L.B. & et.al., (2019). Nursing Leadership in Indigenous Health. Leading and
Managing in Canadian Nursing E-Book. p.54.
Butcher, H.K. & et.al., (2018). Nursing Interventions classification (NIC)-E-Book. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Curtis, E. & et.al., (2019). Why cultural safety rather than cultural competency is required to
achieve health equity: a literature review and recommended definition. International
journal for equity in health. 18(1). p.174.
Flower, L. (2017). The Role of Cultural Memory and Personal Memory in Ambivalent
Racism. Symbolic Interaction. 40(4). pp.584-586.
Nichols, R. (2017). The colonialism of incarceration. In Legal Violence and the Limits of the
Law (pp. 49-67). Routledge.
Reading, C. & Greenwood, M. (2018). Structural determinants of Aboriginal peoples’
health. Determinants of Indigenous Peoples' Health: Beyond the Social, 1.
Sayers, J.M. & et.al., (2017). Service and infrastructure needs to support recovery programmes
for Indigenous community mental health consumers. International journal of mental
health nursing. 26(2). pp.142-150.
Schill, K. & Caxaj, S. (2019). Cultural safety strategies for rural Indigenous palliative care: a
scoping review. BMC palliative care. 18(1). p.21.
Smith, D.E. (2018). Estimating Northern Territory Government program expenditure for
Aboriginal people: problems and implications. Canberra, ACT: Centre for Aboriginal
Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), The Australian National University.
Tate, S.A. & Page, D. (2018). Whiteliness and institutional racism: Hiding behind (un) conscious
bias. Ethics and Education. 13(1). pp.141-155.
ONLINE:
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Strategies to strengthen the workforce of the Indigenous Primary Healthcare Sector. 2019.
[ONLINE] Available through: <
https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-019-4750-5>.
Cultural Safety Strategies for indigenous Palliative Care. 2019. [ONLINE] Available through: <
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12904-019-0404-y>.
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