Cultural Safety in Nursing Practice: A Reflective Account

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................2
BODY............................................................................................................................... 3
PRE-CONCEPTION..................................................................................................... 3
EXPERIENCE DURING LEARNING............................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................. 6
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
Being in a nursing profession one has to take care of some things. One must make sure
that the dignity of any person is not harmed. Every person belongs to some different
culture and has different beliefs (Taylor et al., 2012). The nursing profession and the
midwives should take care of such sentiments and should not perform such actions or
deeds which harm the dignity and self-respect of the individual. Therefore cultural safety
is of the utmost importance when dealing with such people. The individual must not feel
insecure while being treated with health care professionals (Gerlach., 2012).The
assignment aims at reflecting on to what values and skills the nurses must incorporate
into them so that they can provide quality treatment to the patients without any bias
(Brascoupé et al., 2009). Assignment aims at critically reflecting the experiences which
the registered nurse underwent in the term of practice and to improvise on certain
weaknesses.
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BODY
Cultural safety is defined as the efficient exercise of nursing of a person or a family
belonging to some other culture which is determined by that individual or family
(Brascoupé et al., 2009). Unsafe cultural practice or deeds are the actions which
undermine a person's cultural identity, values, and beliefs.
There are four principles of cultural safety: the first one is to improve the health status
and well-being of an individual (Smith.,2011). The second one aims at improving the
quittance of health-related services. The third one relates to bridging the gap between
the differences and people accepting those differences and the last principle states the
strength of health care services and how it impacts individuals and families ( Brascoupé
et al., 2009).
On the other hand, culture, as defined by some scientists, states that mounted and
socially acquired result of shared geography, ideas, time and human experience
(Bulman et al., 2012).
I would like to show my sincere gratitude towards AHPRA which provided me an
opportunity to broaden my thoughts and enlighten my wisdom regarding the topic of
cultural safety. The whole process was a learning procedure which helped me in my
career as a social nurse working in the domain of human rights (Woods., 2010). Before
my joining, my perception earlier was to give limited respect to other's culture, religion
and beliefs (Smith.,2011). But it was in the duration of this course where I cleared many
misconceptions regarding culture and responsive practice and improved my tolerance
level and opt for this as a career option.
PRE-CONCEPTION
Before opting this course I was keenly interested in the human rights and justice
domain, so I stepped into this profession (Brascoupé et al., 2009). I was well-known
with the struggle of people living together with the same sexuality. People did not
consider the concept of homosexuality as normal and they behaved in a very rude and
weird manner with couples of the same gender (Koptie.,2009). I also thought the same
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for such people earlier but then after reading about it thoroughly and studying all the
facts and myths I came to know about the psychology and mentality behind it.
As mentioned in the case scenario Alan and Mark are partners and Alan is suffering
from a spinal cord injury after an accident (Gerlach., 2012). When Alan was rushed into
the hospital I did not think about Mark being his partner and just thought that he might
be a worker of Alan. So I asked Mark about the chronicity of the sore, to bring the
antibiotics, and how long was he with Alan? These questions of mine would have hurt
him and he must also have felt that I was discriminating the belief of homosexuality.
EXPERIENCE DURING LEARNING
What?
While I was working with Alan I suddenly realized that Mark is not his worker and is his
partner instead (Koptie.,2009). As soon as I came to know this my way of reacting
towards both of them changed.
As per my belief, people living together with the same gender are not different. They just
have their own set of feelings which they feel comfortable to share with the partner
having the same sex. Unlike other couples, they develop mutual feelings for each other
(Burrell.,2014).
People living with disabilities also have an equal right to live their own lives and enjoy
every bit of it. People with disabilities should not be looked down; instead, they also
should be given equal opportunities.
So what?
The assumption made by the registered nurse would have made Mark and Alan feel a
little uncomfortable and also they would have thought that the thought process of nurse
and other professionals must be of gender-biased type. This would have hurt their
sentiments and feelings and they must have felt a little awkward.
This case helped me understand the value of culture and respect every person’s
decision and thoughts (Taylor et al., 2012). I understood how to deal and how to behave
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in front of such people. As a result, the condition made me understand the criticality of
the situation and the importance of reaction to such situations.
Now what?
As a result of this experience, I got to learn how to manage such patients, how to
counsel them, take care of them, how to console the other partner and how to help them
manage the condition of their partner (Bulman et al., 2012).
The things which I have experienced here in the hospital will help me apply my
knowledge in future cases. In case if a similar thing occurs again in future then I will be
sure enough to ask the relationship of that individual with the one who is admitted
(Gerlach., 2012).
The person on the post of the registered nurse should be jovial enough to welcome the
patient and the attendee. The relationship of the attendee to the patient must be asked
to avoid such weird circumstances (Burrell.,2014). The attendee should not be told
directly about the seriousness of the patient's condition. The words used must be polite
enough so that it does not hurt the other person.
CONCLUSION
The registered nurse should keep in mind some norms of the hospital. The person who
is present with the patient should never be asked such direct and straight forward
questions about the patient’s condition (Levett-Jones et al., 2011). These types of
questions might hurt their feelings and may cause some emotional harm to them. So in
such cases, the person-in-charge must be polite enough to carry out the work and to
fulfill the hospital formalities as well.
The assignment thus helped in critically reflecting about- in what way a nurse or any
other healthcare professional authority should behave and talk with patients and their
attendees. The questions asked in history taking must not hurt the beliefs and values of
the individual. The person in-charge must be polite enough and should manipulate
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some questions which they think might harm the individual’s self- respect and dignity
(Burrell.,2014).
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REFERENCES
Brascoupé, S. and Waters, C., 2009. Cultural safety exploring the applicability of the
concept of cultural safety to aboriginal health and community wellness. International
Journal of Indigenous Health, 5(2), pp.6-41.
Gerlach, A.J., 2012. A critical reflection on the concept of cultural safety. Canadian
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 79(3), pp.151-158.
Taylor, K. and Guerin, P., 2012. Health care and Indigenous Australians: cultural safety
in practice. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Woods, M., 2010. Cultural safety and the socioethical nurse. Nursing ethics, 17(6),
pp.715-725.
Koptie, S., 2009. Irihapeti Ramsden: The Public Narrative on Cultural Safety. First
Peoples Child & Family Review, 4(2).
Levett-Jones, T., Gersbach, J., Arthur, C. and Roche, J., 2011. Implementing a clinical
competency assessment model that promotes critical reflection and ensures nursing
graduates’ readiness for professional practice. Nurse Education in Practice, 11(1),
pp.64-69.
Bulman, C., Lathlean, J. and Gobbi, M., 2012. The concept of reflection in nursing:
Qualitative findings on student and teacher perspectives. Nurse education today, 32(5),
pp.e8-e13.
Smith, E., 2011. Teaching critical reflection. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(2),
pp.211-223.
Burrell, L.A., 2014. Integrating critical thinking strategies into nursing curricula. Teaching
and Learning in Nursing, 9(2), pp.53-58.
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