Task description:
The vision of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023 reads:
“The Australian health system is free of racism and inequality and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have access to health
services that are effective, high quality, appropriate and affordable” (Australian Government, 2013, p. 7). Racism is a significant inhibitor to ‘closing the gap’ in health outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians (Murrie, 2017). For health professionals to be effective agents in realising the national vision, we are required to be culturally safe practitioners, who are literate in the dynamics of race and racism and importantly their impacts on the well-being of people we care for. Cultural safety must be realised at both the individual practice level and at the institutional level. Health professionals must also be knowledgeable of the historical and political factors that created and continue to maintain poor health outcomes experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In this assessment you will be required to discuss the application of culturally safety to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health and well-being context. You are also required to utilise the 5Rs Reflection Framework to reflect on your learning experience throughout the initial weeks of NSB202.
Learning outcomes assessed:
1. Apply the principles of cultural safety to the context of Aboriginal peoples’ and Torres Strait Islanders’ health and well-being to analyse
and advance your current position on the continuum of cultural safety.
2. Describe historical, social, and political issues and how they inform current experiences of health and well-being, in order to realise their significance as determinants of current health and well-being of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.
3. Discover the everyday experiences of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders that inform their health care and describe how
effective partnerships with individuals, families, and communities enables the sharing of experiences and perspectives.
What you need to do:
Respond to the follow assessment tasks:
Step 1 (written in third-person)
Demonstrate your understanding of the following key concepts.
a) Compare and contrast personal racism and systemic/institutional racism.
b) Briefly discuss the power dynamics associated with the concept of whiteness and describe how it may relate to contemporary nursing practice in Australia.
c) Compare and contrast the concepts cultural safety and cultural competency.
Step 2 (written in first-person)
In accordance with the 5Rs of Reflection Framework, report on one of the prescribed readings (from Week’s 1-5) that grabbed your attention, and then describe your response to this prescribed reading.
Step 3 (written in third person)
Discuss how institutional racism has been enacted and perpetuated throughout Australia’s history, particularly in regards to Indigenous
peoples’ access to adequate health care, education and employment. Describe how these actions relate to the concept of white privilege.
Step 4 (written in third person)
Discuss how culturally safe nursing practice does address personal and institutional racism that impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ access to health care.
Step 5 (written in first person)
In accordance with the 5Rs of Reflection Framework, reflect on the transformation of your understanding regarding the role of nurses in
addressing the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a culturally safe way. Consider how your knowledge and
understanding has developed through your engagement with the learning material and activities (i.e. the required and recommended
readings, videos, lectures and tutorial material and activities).
Your task is to report, respond, relate, reason and reconstruct your understanding of your role in ensuring culturally safe nursing care for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
