Cultural Safety and Holistic Care for Indigenous Australians

This discussion post explores the critical role of cultural safety in providing holistic care, particularly for Indigenous Australians. It emphasizes that true patient well-being encompasses physical, emotional, spiritual, and social dimensions. Drawing from practical experience at the Damascus Alcohol and Rehabilitation Unit in Brisbane, the discussion highlights the importance of respecting a patient's cultural needs to facilitate recovery. The post argues that allowing patients to express their culture reduces anxiety and pain, improves treatment responsiveness, and fosters hope. It concludes by posing a thought-provoking question about balancing a patient's cultural needs with the needs of others in a healthcare facility, inviting further engagement and discussion. The post is supported by relevant academic literature, emphasizing the need for healthcare professionals to be culturally sensitive and responsive to the unique needs of Indigenous patients.

Running head: DISCUSSION 1
Discussion
Author Name
Institutional Affiliation
Author note

DISCUSSION 2
Discussion
To provide holistic care, it is essential to implement cultural safety. A patient should be
healthy physically and emotionally by the time, they finish their stay in the healthcare facility
(Fraser et al., 2018). In the culturally diverse people or indigenous people of Australia, ensuring
cultural safety helps in providing holistic care. In healthcare facilities where patients make a
speedy recovery, the emotional, spiritual and social skills of the patient have been met. For
example, a culture may state that the patient should be allowed to be in contact with other
people; the healthcare professional should respect this culture and prohibit visitors from seeing
the patient. Psychological effects may occur if the patient is not allowed to express their culture.
This may be manifested as physical symptoms, thereby increasing the stay of the patient in the
hospital and high treatment cost (Pauly, McCall, Browne, Parker & Mollison, 2015).
Practical experience is at the Damascus Alcohol and Rehabilitation Unit in
Brisbane where there in an Australian indigenous patient who has been admitted for alcohol
abuse. In order to ensure that the patient has a full recovery, the healthcare professionals should
allow the patient to live his stay at the facility according to his culture (Wepa, 2015). To do this,
the nurse to cater to his emotional and spiritual needs. A patient who feels safe to express his
culture, will have reduced levels of anxiety and pain. They will also be responsive to the
treatment. They will also have hope in the success of the procedure. The nurses should respect
the requests of the patient and not ridicule or deny his or her cultural needs (Yeung, 2016).
The big question is while promoting holistic care and cultural safety, should the patient
be allowed to his cultural needs if they interfere with other patients in the same facility? Feel free
to comment below about the question

DISCUSSION 3
References
Fraser, S., Grant, J., Mackean, T., Hunter, K., Holland, A. J., Clapham, K., ... & Ivers, R. Q.
(2018). Burn injury models of care: A review of quality and cultural safety for care of
Indigenous children. Burns, 44(3), 665-677.
Pauly, B. B., McCall, J., Browne, A. J., Parker, J., & Mollison, A. (2015). Toward cultural
safety. Advances in Nursing Science, 38(2), 121-135.
Wepa, D. (Ed.). (2015). Cultural safety in Aotearoa New Zealand. Cambridge University Press.
Yeung, S. (2016). Conceptualizing cultural safety. Journal for Social Thought, 1.