Australian Nurses Forced to Apologize for Being White Before Treating Patients

Australian Nurses Forced to Apologize for Being White Before Treating Patients

Health authorities in Australia are criticizing a new code of conduct which forces nurses and midwives to announce their ‘white privilege’ when dealing with minorities.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board has stated that the ‘cultural safety’ of Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander patients is just as important as their clinical safety.

The new code of conduct reads: “Cultural safety … requires nurses and midwives to undertake an ongoing process of self-reflection and cultural self-awareness, and an acknowledgment of how a nurse’s/midwife’s personal culture impacts on care.”

“In relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, cultural safety provides a decolonising model of practice based on dialogue, communication, power sharing and negotiation, and the acknowledgment of white privilege.

It takes only one complaint from a minority that a nurse or midwife didn’t admit their white privilege for the person to be brought in front of a tribunal to face disciplinary action.

Turn the page for reaction to the new code:

Next Page »



Share

One Response

  1. Avrum Halevi

Leave a Reply

Pin It on Pinterest