Why Culturally Safe Nursing Practice - 2161 Words

Introduction Australia is one of the healthiest countries in the world, with one of the most dramatic rates of social inequalities in the health between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations (AIHW, 2014). This paper will examine why culturally safe nursing practice, through cultural competence, is a key strategy for reducing inequalities in access to healthcare. This paper will additionally define what is meant by cultural competency, and how culturally competent nursing practice is significant and beneficial to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) populations. In Australia, minority populations such as Indigenous Australians have much worse health outcomes than non-indigenous Australians (AIHW, 2014). There†¦show more content†¦The Close the Gap campaign aims to minimise health inequity by addressing the unequal distribution of health-damaging determinants of health (Marmot et al., 2008). Cultural competency reinforces and builds on work to challenge and redress injustice, racism, exclusion, and inequity (Walker, Cromarty, Kelly, Pierre-Hansen, 2009), by enabling equal access to healthcare (Bainbridge et al., 2015). The importance of culture in the health of Indigenous Australians Indigenous cultural perceptions of health and healing are distinctly different from the views of the biomedical approach of the Australian healthcare system (Ramsden, 1996). The factors that influence Indigenous Australian’s health behaviour are poorly understood by the biomedical approach to health care (Waterworth et al., 2015). Indigenous populations place value on the social and emotional wellbeing of the Community in which individuals are enabled to achieve their full potential, thereby bringing about the total well-being of their Community (Green, 2010). Indigenous identity, which emphasizes traditional subsistence and practices, respect for land, environment, and tradition, provides crucial elements of both personal and communal healing (Green, 2010). Contrary to the biomedical model, Indigenous health goes beyond the physiological functioning of the body and includes relations with significant others and connection to land. In some circumstances, the disruption of social networks seem to be