Journal article
Cultural Safety and clinical safety: A symbiotic relationship for improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Communities’ health outcomes
Contemporary Nurse, Vol.Advanced access
2025
Abstract
In Australia, it is widely acknowledged that Indigenous Australians have been significantly traumatised by invasion, ongoing colonisation and the impact of previous racist government policies, creating cycles of disadvantage and inequality. Racism remains a major determinant of poor health, impacting daily life and wellbeing - central to the national ′Closing the Gap′ intiative. Health administrators and researchers often misinterpret these issues, viewing Indigenous health through a deficit-based lens.
Discussion
While the link between Cultural Safety and patient outcomes is clear, consistent application in practice is lacking. Cultural Safety is equally vital as clinical safety in ensuring quality care, particularly for Indigenous Australians affected by culturally unsafe practices.
Recommendations
In healthcare delivery Indigenous Australians health and the ‘Closing the Gap’ agenda is everybody’s business, it is not the responsibility of the patient, their family or their Community. The authors propose a reconceptualisation of the way health and wellbeing is perceived by health professionals, in which providing culturally safe care is symbiotic with providing clinically safe care. As an integrated foundation for quality and safety in health care, this strategy brings together the social determinants of culturally safe care with competent, evidence-based, equitable and non-bias care for all, and could help advance the Closing the Gap agenda.
Details
- Title
- Cultural Safety and clinical safety: A symbiotic relationship for improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Communities’ health outcomes
- Authors
- Ali Moloney (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastLynne Stuart (Mandandanji Woman) (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre
- Publication details
- Contemporary Nurse, Vol.Advanced access
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.1080/10376178.2025.2573155
- ISSN
- 1839-3535
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonC.ommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Nursing
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991172945902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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