Cultural security of patients
Culture is the most potent tool for promoting wellness in any community. Aboriginal communities in Australia face huge health care disparities. In particular, according to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (2015), there persist health status inequalities between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal Australians thanks to systemic issues. In particular, cultural-insensitivity among health professionals is an entrenched systemic matter. Culturally-insensitivity is an indicator of cultural insecurity. Wood et al. (2011) describe cultural security as “encompassing cultural awareness.” This shows that cultural awareness is a critical factor for optimally effective health professionals.
I am guilty of being culturally-insensitive in the past, thus abetting the current health care disparities. For instance, in the summer of my first year, I worked for a non-profit health outreach that served Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. While there, I noticed that whenever I prodded cancer patients to seek Western medicine remedy, the majority would shoot down such suggestions because traditional healing is better. In effect, most patients’ conditions exacerbated, causing preventable deaths in some cases. As such, these painful events led me to evaluate my professional mindset, which revealed cultural incompetency. Therefore, I admit that achieving cultural security as a health professional serving Aboriginal patients, in the future, will necessitate collaboration with Aboriginal health workers, development of bespoke health programs, and advancing my knowledge of the Indigenous people’s beliefs.
Engaging with Indigenous health workers is a crucial pillar for attaining cultural security. More specifically, by collaborating with Aboriginal health workers, who have an in-depth Indigenous community knowledge, I will not only understand their cultural beliefs better but also persuade the community to adopt life-saving Western medicine remedies. Coffin (2007) defines cultural security as the preservation of cultural identity, impacting health policy, including how health workers discharge duties. In other words, this means that protecting a people’s cultural identity, secures their culture, thus creating a sensitive, positive climate that is responsive to my efforts in the field fighting cancer prevalence. As such, collaborating and engaging with native health workers would help my cause in developing cultural security and promoting better health because they are tolerable in the communities.
Additionally, I can create cultural security amongst my Indigenous patients via the use of tailored-health programs. In particular, effective cancer health programs would call me to create special educational programs that accurately addresses Western cancer cure skepticism in the community. According to Wenitong et al. (2007), health professionals’ primary responsibility is health equity advocacy. On the one hand, developing an Indigenous-people-conscious cancer training program is a vital avenue for averting common misunderstandings that dissuade Aboriginal people from incorporating Western Medicine. On the other hand, such special programs would ensure that I acknowledge the traditional medical interventions which are potentially beneficial for cancer and its secondary ailments. In essence, utilizing custom health programs means that I will kill two birds with one stone – remedying modern medicine doubts, and appreciating the significance of traditional medicine, hence creating cultural security.
Lastly, I will need to grow my Aboriginal people’s beliefs understanding to attain informed and considerate patient care regimens that will guarantee cultural security. More specifically, it will entail learning Aboriginal history with a strong emphasis on comprehending the basis for some risky Aboriginal beliefs. For instance, Shahid et al. (2009) state that Aboriginal individuals believe that cancer is infectious. Although the Indigenous persons strongly hold this belief, it has no empirical grounds. The magnitude of my impact on the ground will be pegged upon understanding the roots of such perilous beliefs. As such, solid understanding will present an opportunity for constructively challenging these beliefs to achieve cultural security in Indigenous patient care.
Creating cultural security in Aboriginal cancer patient care is not a mirage but an achievable goal. Attainability of these goals begs that I team up with Aboriginal health workers, employ special health training programs specifically for Aboriginal people, and being more knowledgeable about the Aboriginal people’s beliefs. In other words, increasing my cultural awareness makes Aboriginal patient care more productive and culturally secure.