Why is Cultural Safety Important?

Cultural Safety is extremely important in the professional roles of Nurses and Midwives. Cultural Safety is as critical as clinical safety.
The term ‘Cultural’ is not about cultural identity, ethnicity or traditions. Rather, it’s about the ‘culture’ of power. 

The concept of Cultural Safety:

• arose from the colonial context of Aotearoa (New Zealand) by Māori nurses and nursing students in response to the manifestations of racism they and other Māori people were experiencing, evident in their experiences of poor health outcomes, and low participation in the nursing workforce.
• was first coined by a first-year Māori nursing student who asserted to a room full of nursing educators and leaders, “you people talk about legal safety, ethical safety, safety in clinical practice and a safe knowledge base, but what about Cultural Safety” (Ramsden, 2002, p. 1).
• was further theorised by Māori nursing educator, Dr Irihapeti Ramsden, who received permission from this Māori student to develop the concept of cultural safety into the theoretical and practical framework of kawa whakaruruhau meaning protection (pronounced: ‘ka-wa’ ‘faka-ru-ru-ho’).
• through Ramsden’s theorising, adopted an intersectional perspective, specifically how society establishes social norms that enable racial discrimination, as well as gendered discrimination, homophobia, ableism, and other forms of discrimination that disempowers a group of people based on their difference.
• was the focus of Dr Ramsden’s 2001 CATSIN Conference presentation, where she shared her theorising and real practice implications.
• has since been adopted in Australia and developed to recognise the historical, social, material, and political conditions of Australia’s colonial context, specifically from the social positions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• privileges a focus on the racism experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, because of the extent of racial discrimination, interpersonal and institutional, that is experienced compared to other forms of discrimination.
• is pivotal to contemporary Australian nursing and midwifery theory and practice, particularly regarding its potential to improve nursing and midwifery care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and to improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ participation in and influence of Australia’s nursing and midwifery professions.

Watch Adjunct Professor Practice Alison McMillan talk about Cultural Safety