Cultural Safety, Gender Issues, and Indigenous Healthcare in Australia

This assignment is a discussion post that analyzes the importance of cultural safety in healthcare, particularly within the context of Indigenous Australian communities. The post reflects on a personal experience of an ambulance officer, highlighting an incident where gender sensitivity played a crucial role in patient care. The author emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals to maintain cultural safety, respect patient beliefs, and address gender-related norms specific to Indigenous Australians. It supports the integration of cultural safety to enhance healthcare equity and patient-centered care, referencing relevant literature and guidelines from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. The post underscores the significance of nurses and other healthcare providers being aware of cultural nuances and employing problem-solving skills to deliver holistic and effective care. The assignment highlights gender sensitivity as a key aspect of providing culturally safe care and offers insights into how healthcare providers can navigate these complexities to improve patient outcomes.

Thank you for sharing your personal experience of working with indigenous people of
Australia as an Ambulance officer. You have specified an incident you witnessed where the
indigenous woman was reluctant in receiving care form the healthcare provider as he was a
male, and you had to act as a mediator between the patient and the healthcare provider to
address the gender issue. Such incidents are quite common in healthcare industry and
considering such situations, healthcare professionals need to maintain cultural safety while
providing care to the indigenous people of Australia. You have mentioned in your post that
registered nurses are required to provide best care that includes a safe environment where the
cultures and beliefs of the patients are respected (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia,
2018). I agree with you point that integrating cultural safety reconfigures healthcare sector
allowing greater equity of released access and in this way it is possible to provide a patient-
centred care which is quite effective as it involves patients in the process of making decisions
(Laverty, McDermott & Calma, 2017).. Also, you stated that nurses may not be fully aware
of all the cultural needs of the patients, but I also support your opinion that they should be
flexible enough to work positively as per the cultural requirements of the patients.
As per your experience, gender sensitivity is a common issue while working with
indigenous Australians and as per studies (Ford et al., 2018), there are some specific gender
related norms among the indigenous people of Australia where the forms of addressing
people or having an eye contact with opposite gender creates issues. In this context you
identified a fact that gender specificity should be considered in order to provide the best care
which is culturally safe as well (The University of Western Australia, 2018). Therefore,
nurses and other healthcare providers should be aware of the cultural safety and be conscious
to apply problem solving skills in order to provide a holistic as well as effective care to the
patients of all cultures.

References
Ford, J. D., Sherman, M., Berrang-Ford, L., Llanos, A., Carcamo, C., Harper, S., ... & Edge,
V. (2018). Preparing for the health impacts of climate change in Indigenous
communities: The role of community-based adaptation. Global environmental
change, 49, 129-139. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016304447
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/journal/2017/207/1/embedding-cultural-
safety-australias-main-health-care-standards
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2018). Professional Standards. Retrieved from
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/
Professional-standards.aspx
The University of Western Australia. (2018). Gendered Indigenous Health and Wellbeing
within the Australian Health System: A Review of the Literature. Retrieved from
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/115966/1/Gendered%20Indigenous%20Health%20and
%20Wellbeing%20within%20the%20Australian%20Health%20System.%20A
%20Review%20of%20the%20Literature.pdf%20%281%29.pdf