Cultural Safety and Healthcare: A Reflection Using Gibbs Cycle

This essay provides a critical reflection on the importance of cultural safety in healthcare, particularly within the Australian context, focusing on the experiences of Indigenous peoples (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples). The reflection is structured using Gibbs' reflective cycle, enc...Read More

Introduction
This essay aims to critically reflect my understanding and experience on the video
that discusses the importance of maintaining a culturally safe practice irrespective of the
racial differences which has been a serious concern in Australia that affects the aboriginal or
indigenous Maoris as well as people of Torres Strait Islander (Browne et al., 2016). In order
to reflect my view I will be using Gibbs reflective cycle which helps in providing a brief
description followed by feelings, evaluation and analysis. Finally I will conclude with an
action plan for my future in this regard as per the format of Gibbs Reflective Cycle.
Description
The video depicts that there is a cultural gap between non-indigenous and indigenous
people which also exist in the aspects of healthcare where aboriginal nurses work equally
along with the non-aboriginal employees. In order to provide a safe and better healthcare to
the patients a culturally safe working practice is most essential where aboriginal people will
be considered as equal to others. According to the video, the healthcare system has a
leadership structure that includes the people of Torres Strait Islander. In the video, the
speaker mentioned the name of three different indigenous people who were inspirational. At
first, she mentioned the name of Eric, who was the first indigenous nurse in the year 1903.
She also mentioned that, now more than 2000 nurses are working as nurse in Australia.
However, the video revealed that aboriginal health professionals find their workplaces
culturally unsafe and many of them experience racism in their working practice. The second
person, who was introduced in the video, was a Maori leader, Professor Jackson who was
truly inspirational. In this context, a future scenario has been predicted where aboriginal
people are ruling the honourable positions equally and no racism is there. The third person,
who was introduced in the video, was Clinton Fryer. His journey through the remote areas of

Western Australia disclosed the fact that indigenous people experience injustice in many
aspects. Also, in the aspects of healthcare they claim to receive inequalities in care.
Feelings
I feel, racism in healthcare can cause severe issues as people’s health and wellbeing is
dependent on the efficiency of this sector. Initially, I was thinking that people from remote
areas always face difficulties however, while watching the video I felt positive about the new
initiatives implemented in order to maintain equality in nursing profession and support the
indigenous or aboriginal people. In the video, the speaker appealed to initiate call for action
which according to my opinion is highly supportive and important in this regard. Also at the
same time, the example of future discussed in the video was quite mesmerizing to imagine
such scenario.
Evaluation
Watching the video was extremely helpful as the speaker was polite and efficient
enough to discuss the whole matter. However, I am pleased with the action of the speaker to
call everyone for joining the venture of omitting cultural or racial discrimination from the
healthcare field. Also, the health literacy of indigenous people is important and it was
nowhere discussed in the video which is concerning as aboriginal people from remote areas
cannot often visit hospitals due to long distance and therefore, health literacy becomes
important for them. Again, the example of Peter Norman has been considered in the video
which depicts his experience and feeling upon his rejection from Olympic despite of
qualifying for 13 times and also having excellent performance throughout the selection
journey. Such history clearly shows the existence of racism and its negative impact on the
indigenous or aboriginal people.

Analysis
According to the literatures culturally responsive health service should be included in
the nursing studies (Laverty, McDermott & Calma, 2017). Cultural safety acknowledges the
barriers to the clinical effectiveness (Shepherd, Willis-Esqueda, Newton, Sivasubramaniam &
Paradies, 2019). Also, as per the Indigenous Community Governance Project, the government
of Australia is not cultural –neutral. They also claimed that different approaches of the
government vary according to the cultural differences (Lock, 2018). However, Australian
Commission of safety and Healthcare published a report which states the laws and
regulations to maintain cultural safety in the clinical settings in order to support the
indigenous of Maori people of Torres Strait Islander (Goodman et al., 2017) (Wilson,
Magarey, Jones, O'Donnell & Kelly, 2015).
Conclusion
Looking back into my understanding of this video and the concept of cultural safety I
realize that nurses should be aware of maintain the cultural safety while working as
professional. I also realize that I need to be supportive with all my colleagues irrespective of
their cultures and ethnicity.
Action plan
In future, I will try to implement my learning from this video into my working
practice and also I will try to work on health literacy of indigenous people.

References
Browne, A. J., Varcoe, C., Lavoie, J., Smye, V., Wong, S. T., Krause, M., ... & Fridkin, A.
(2016). Enhancing health care equity with Indigenous populations: evidence-based
strategies from an ethnographic study. BMC health services research, 16(1), 544.
Retrieved from https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-
016-1707-9
Goodman, A., Fleming, K., Markwick, N., Morrison, T., Lagimodiere, L., Kerr, T., &
Society, W. A. H. R. (2017). “They treated me like crap and I know it was because I
was Native”: The healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples living in Vancouver's
inner city. Social Science & Medicine, 178, 87-94. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5367883/
Laverty, M., McDermott, D. R., & Calma, T. (2017). Embedding cultural safety in
Australia’s main health care standards. The Medical journal of Australia, 207(1), 15-
16. Retrieved from https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/2017-06/10.5694mja17.00328.pdf
Lock, M. J. (2018). Australian Healthcare Governance and the Cultural Safety and Security
of Australia’s First Peoples: An Annual Critique. No. 1: Focussing on Knowledge
Governance. Committix Pty Ltd, Newcastle. Retrieved from
https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2018/12/apo-nid210996-1182336.pdf
Shepherd, S. M., Willis-Esqueda, C., Newton, D., Sivasubramaniam, D., & Paradies, Y.
(2019). The challenge of cultural competence in the workplace: perspectives of
healthcare providers. BMC health services research, 19(1), 135. Retrieved from
https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-019-3959-7

Wilson, A. M., Magarey, A. M., Jones, M., O'Donnell, K., & Kelly, J. (2015). Attitudes and
characteristics of health professionals working in Aboriginal health. Rural & Remote
Health, 15(1). Retrieved from
http://www.academia.edu/download/39815684/Attitudes_and_characteristics_of_heal
th_20151108-28648-12f01cs.pdf