HSC230 Cultural Safety in Healthcare - Mind Map and Written Reflection - Assignment Help

Introduction

The quality of healthcare services provide to the patients are greatly determined by the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the nurses and the practitioners. The fact cannot be neglected that values, beliefs and behaviors of the patients may not stand parallel to those of the practitioners. In the perspective of Jackson and O’Brien, the ethics and standards of the practitioners may shed light onto the cultural disparities found in the healthcare environments (2013). 

Values

Healthcare practitioners in the multicultural Australian society have now started to deal with diversity through the notion of cultural safety. An individual pursuing a career in nursing is obliged to treat patients without showcasing disdain towards their cultural backgrounds. Cultural safety revolves around accepting diversity, and tackling all the problems pertaining to inequality (Usher & West, 2011). Wilson and Grant suggest that healthcare practitioners must not only treat patients without paying any heed to their cultural backgrounds, but also work with the colleagues having different racial and cultural profiles (2008). Australia is a society that comprises of people having various racial profiles and other differences with respect to age, sexual orientation, status, sex, ethnicity, religious ideologies, etc. (Phiri, Dietsch, & Bonner, 2010). In a multicultural healthcare environment, anybody pursuing the nursing profession must ensure that cultural diversity does not affect the quality of treatment in any way. 

In addition, a healthcare practitioner in Australia must heave a caring attitude towards the patients. These patients tend to be extremely vulnerable, and need care much more than medicine to heal faster. A healthcare practitioner must commit to pursuing the acts that prove to be in the best interests of the patients, and other stakeholders, despite their cultural backgrounds. Cultural probity is another value that is of the utmost significance (Arieli, Friedman, & Hirschfeld, 2012). It is the duty of a healthcare practitioner working in a multicultural Australian society to indulge in ethical activities, and stick to the truth at all times. Besides, anybody in the nursing profession must make ethical decisions with extreme integrity so that the interests of the patients are protected. Excellence is another value that a healthcare practitioner must always cherish. Fostering excellence in a healthcare setting ensures that the practitioners commit to improvement and growth. In such a culture of excellence, there is no tolerance for mediocre practices and status quo, ensuring cultural safety. Probity, diversity, caring and excellence are the four core values that a healthcare practitioner in Australia must observe, so that patients having various cultural and racial profiles receive the best treatment.