Cultural Safety Position Statement: Effective Communication & Health

This assignment presents a cultural safety position statement for a healthcare organization, focusing on the importance of effective health communication and health literacy in delivering culturally safe healthcare. It discusses the organizational background of Danila Dilba, an aboriginal community-controlled health service, and its commitment to improving the mental, physical, spiritual, cultural, and social wellbeing of the aboriginal community. The rationale behind the position statement emphasizes the empowerment of healthcare providers and patients through culturally safe behavior, promoting quality of care irrespective of race, ethnicity, and culture. The report further elaborates on the importance of effective communication, the relationship between health literacy and communication, and external influences that may contribute to or detract from culturally safe practices. It concludes by assessing the contribution of the position statement in improving health outcomes, as well as potential barriers to implementation and strategies to overcome them.

Danila Dilba - Cultural Safety Position Statement
Organizational Background
Danila Dilba started working as a community controlled aboriginal health service in
the year 1970 during the time of great activism for all the indigenous people of Australia.
However, the Danila Dilba health service was founded in the year 1991. It is a safe and
comfortable place for the aboriginal people of Australia who find solution for different health
concerns. The health service provided by the organization is holistic and friendly to all the
people from indigenous community and thus the establishment of the organization is a great
feeling of pride and achievement for those people of indigenous community. It is basically an
aboriginal community controlled organization that provides comprehensive primary
healthcare and community services to the people of Torres Strait Island which is culturally
appropriate (Danila Dilba Health Service, n.d.).
The main mission of the organization is to improve mental, physical, spiritual,
cultural as well as social wellbeing of the aboriginal community through some innovative,
comprehensive primary healthcare programs. The core value of Danila Dilba is to support
workplace culture, based on integrity, transparency, honesty, fairness and accountability. The
organization also consults with clients, and other stakeholders regarding its improvement
programs and opportunities for further improvement of the organization.
Danila Dilba Health Service (DDHS) is the only aboriginal community controlled
health service in Darwin. In the region, catering to the population of Torres Strait Island, the
organization has seven clinics. The recent activities of DDHS have been able to provide 80%
improved health outcome of the aboriginal people.
The position of Danila Dilba Health Service

 It is a leading aboriginal controlled health organization that uses evidence as
well as knowledge about client and community needs in order to influence the
policy and service improvements.
 The organization develops and maintains formal as well as informal alliances
that bring all the indigenous and non-indigenous together to address the social
determinants of health.
 Works in partnership and continue to establish and improve trusted and
respectful relationships with the aboriginal people of that area.
 The effective governance and management ensure that the organization is
engaged with skill-based board and strong management team.
 It works on the basis of strong evidences that ensure right information is being
collected and analyzed for the system improvement.
 The organization establishes partnership and conducts research in order to fill
the gaps in knowledge and to identify the best practice approaches for the
service improvements (Danila Dilba Health Service, 2017).

Rationale
Importance of position statement in providing culturally safe healthcare environment
The main idea of cultural safety always involves the empowerment of the healthcare
providers and the patients. Culturally safe behaviour indicates the open-minded and flexible
attitudes towards the people irrespective of their culture and race. It is also concerned with
the power relationship between the nurses and those who are in care. Developing cultural
safety involves cultural reflective practice. Sometimes, due to cultural differences, the quality
of care is hampered and people from some specific cultures such as aboriginal or the people
of Torres Strait Islands are more likely to be the sufferer. Establishing a culturally safe
environment in the healthcare system always promotes quality of care irrespective of the race,
ethnicity and culture. Here, the position statements of the organization strongly affirm that
the cultural belief of the indigenous people will not be hampered and a respectful healthcare
delivery service will be provided to all the aboriginal people. At the same time it also ensures
the people from aboriginal community that they will receive services as per the international
human right and an improved healthcare outcome. The community-centred nature of Danila
Dilba is focused to maintain a good relationship with all the patients and the care
environment is completely free from racism. The statements will help the indigenous people
to keep faith on their services (Danila Dilba Health Service, 2017).
The importance of effective communication in the provision of culturally safe
environment
A culturally safe communication always demonstrates an understanding as well as respect for
individuals which is helpful in promoting the satisfaction of the patients and their families.
Through the help of verbal communication, a clinician can identify the needs of the patient
and according to that the care is specified. Also, according to literatures, clinicians who are

ill-prepared to effectively communicate with cultural safety are often limited to isolated
opportunities. When the communication is not effective due to cultural difference then the
patients are less likely to be satisfied from the care experience and as a result, it leads to poor
adherence to the treatment procedure and thus the health outcome is hampered (Foronda,
MacWilliams & McArthur, 2016). A culturally sensitive communication always reflects that
the clinician is aware of the values, beliefs and preferences of the patients from different
cultural background which in turn improves the reputation of the organization. Being able to
communicate effectively is one of the most vital components of healthcare profession.
Cultural diversity can create a lot of challenges in healthcare but if the healthcare providers
are able to communicate effectively in the provision of culturally safe environment then it
helps in solving many issues. The definition of communication in healthcare always indicates
the relationship between the healthcare providers and the patients. If the communication is
culturally sensitive then it always supports building a therapeutic relationship with the
patients and care experience are also improved (Meuter, Gallois, Segalowitz, Ryder &
Hocking, 2015).
The relationship between health literacy and effective communication
Health literacy and effective communication, both of these two are keys to improve health
and quality of healthcare. Health communication consists of mass communication activities
that focus on improving the healthcare outcome of individual or a community.
Communication in healthcare system is associated with improved patients satisfaction and
adherence to the medical recommendations. There is evidence that clinicians believe that
communication is more effective when the care is patient-centred (Jacobs, Lou, Ownby &
Caballero, 2016). Communication healthcare is important in understanding the patients’
needs and it also identifies specific issues in healthcare that are required to identify. Again,
skills in understanding and applying the health information may have substantial impact on

the healthcare outcome. If the patient is not aware of the proper health information then
wrong application of it can lead to serious health issues further and therefore, the idea of
health literacy is essential (White et al., 2016). Health literacy is described as the capacity to
obtain, access, and understand information related to health which can be presented in a
complex way. Health information might include written information such as online
information, prescription, medical instruction, consent forms, interpersonal communication,
and others. It is very common that consumers from different communities to face difficulties
in accessing as well as understanding the wide range of health information. In this purpose
they require proper health literacy which will be helpful for them in applying and acting on
the health information. However, it is a comparatively new concept with varied
interpretations on how it can be measured, defined, understood or improved. Health literacy
requires a proper communication process and if the communication is not clear then
providing health education or literacy can be the most challenging task. Sharing health
literacy is basically developed on the communication process between the patients and the
healthcare providers and hence, if the communication is not appropriate then the health
literacy cannot be proper as well (Mackert, Mabry-Flynn, Champlin, Donovan & Pounders,
2016).
External influence that may contribute and detract from culturally safe practice in the
healthcare environment
Cultural safety is basically used as an analytical tool that helps in understanding the social
interaction between the patients and the caregivers. According to the literatures that cultural
safety is an integral component of ensuring clinical safety by minimizing the risks. In a
culturally safe environment, there will be no assault or challenge regarding the identity of the
patients. However, researches have shown that indigenous people always face cultural
difficulties in health care and as a result they are explored in negative care experience. The

lack of respectful and culturally appropriate healthcare services impacts the health status of
the aboriginal people. In addition, the disrespectful treatment they receive makes them non-
adhere to the treatment procedure. Therefore, it is important to maintain cultural safety.
However, various external factors are there that may contribute as well as detract the
culturally safe practice in the healthcare environment. Media is a factor that affects the
cultural safety in the healthcare environment. People sometimes rely on the reports of media
that how it reflects on the cultural safety of any organization. Some misleading headlines
might impact the thoughts of the people as well. Media reports evidence on the ethical issues
in the cultural safety that also helps an organization to improve its functions in maintaining
the culturally safe environment with the healthcare organization. Apart from this, lack of
knowledge about the cultural safe practice can also be an external factor that detracts cultural
safe practice in a healthcare environment.
Contribution of the position statement in improving the health outcomes of the
organisation's target clients
Danila Dilba has set its positions statements to improve the healthcare outcome of aboriginal
community. The position statements states that Danila Dilba is an aboriginal controlled health
organization that use evidence and knowledge about the people of aboriginal community
which is helpful in identifying the exact issues and according to that, the organization can set
its goal to improve the healthcare outcome of the people from those communities. Again, in
order to address the social determinants of health, Danila Dilba maintains the alliance
between the indigenous as well as non-indigenous community which ensure health equity as
well (Danila Dilba Health Service, 2017). The position statement of the organization clearly
states that it works in partnership to establish a respectful relationship among the people of
aboriginal community and also it works on the strong evidences to ensure that accurate
information is being collected as well as analyzed from the indigenous people. The

organization also establishes partnership in order to improve its services to the aboriginal
communities. Thus gaps in knowledge are also filled in. Danila dilba is a healthcare service
provider which is mainly focused on improving the healthcare experience of the aboriginal
people from Torres Strait Island. The position statements of the organization clearly
demonstrate that it its main goal is to improve the health outcomes of the target clients and it
will contribute to achieve its goal.
Barriers of implementing the position statements and ways to overcome
Various kinds of barriers might be there in an organization. Any healthcare organization
might have some rules and regulations that define the relationship among the employees. The
policies indicate how the employees will communicate and work with each other. Status and
hierarchical position is also a barrier that sets the boundaries for an employee within which
he/she can work. Due to the difference in the positions of the employees in the hierarchy,
communication process might be formal which can contribute in the gap in communication.
Another barrier is complex organizational structure and it can also contribute to the less
effective communication (Lodgaard, Ingvaldsen, Gamme & Aschehoug, 2016). All these
organizational barriers can affect the implementation of the position statements of Danila
Dilba. Also, lack of trustful relationship can be a barrier in establishing the position
statement. In this regard, it is important to overcome the barriers to improve the healthcare
outcome of the aboriginal people. Improving the organizational structure and proper research
to find evidence can be a solution. Evidence-based practice is always helpful and it will also
help the aboriginal people in developing a trustful relationship with the organization to
acquire the healthcare services provided by the organization.

References
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Danila Dilba Health Service. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from https://ddhs.org.au/about-us
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