AUSTRALIAN nurses forced to say "Sorry that I'm White"

[FLEKTARN]

Australian nurses and midwives are being forced to announce their 'white privilege' before treating Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander patients - a move which has been slammed as 'racist to its core'.

The term 'white privilege' defines the unearned social and cultural advantages awarded to people with white skin which are not enjoyed by people of colour or non-white backgrounds.

Is that true?

[sprintcyclist]

It would be honest if the nurses said "Sorry that you are not white."

[Black Orchid]

I have not heard anything about this but sadly it would not surprise me. If you expect an apology for being white before you are treated you do not deserve to be treated at all. Period. Go get your own degree and help yourself and your brethren.

[FLEKTARN]

I read this everywhere. Maybe ask around some friends if they know? Like if you have friends medical personnel. How can you apologize for your skin tone.

I always knew it Liberals were the biggest racists. That don't come from the Congoids. Congoids never demand anything if they've not been heavily backed and pushed by the Left.

[cods]

I read this everywhere. Maybe ask around some friends if they know? Like if you have friends medical personnel. How can you apologize for your skin tone.

I always knew it Liberals were the biggest racists. That don't come from the Congoids. Congoids never demand anything if they've not been heavily backed and pushed by the Left.

I dont think it sounds authentic flek.... the Nurses are run by the State Govt....if any govt asked them to do that it would be headlines....

and there is nothing here.......probably started by some trouble maker....to make more mischief between whitey and our indigenous chums.

[Black Orchid]

AUSTRALIAN nurses are pushing back against a change that requires them to “acknowledge white privilege” before treating patients.

Nurses and midwives around the country must now adhere to a new code of conduct with a section specifically dedicated to “culture” and which details white Australians’ inherent privilege “in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders”.

The new code, which came into effect in March, has been labelled “eye-watering”, “cultural madness” and “unacceptable”. A peak body representing nurses in Queensland is even calling for the chairman of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia to be sacked over it.

“This is eye-watering stuff,” Graeme Haycroft from the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

“We’re calling for the resignation of the chairman of the board (Associate Professor Lynette Cusack) because she’s put her name to it and it’s unacceptable.”

Credlin called it “almost too hard to believe”. “Before (a midwife) delivers a baby to an indigenous woman she’s supposed to put her hands up and say: ‘I need to talk to you about my white privilege’, not about my infection control, my qualifications or my training as a midwife?” she asked Mr Haycroft.

He said that was correct, but there’s no requirement to “announce” anything. The nurses must simply abide by the new code which state clearly that “cultural safety is as important to quality care as clinical safety”.

“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,” the code reads.

“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.

“These actions are a means to challenge racism at personal and institutional levels, and to establish trust in healthcare encounters.”

Mr Haycroft said the code was hastily approved with little consultation.

“It’s all of Australia. There’s 350,000 nurses and midwives Australia-wide and they’re all now subject to this new code,” he said.

“We put a little survey on our website and we asked nurses whether they agreed with the code of conduct. Just over 50 per cent of our members have said ‘this is wrong, do something about it, fight it for us’.”

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia released a statement on March 1 asking nurses and midwives to “reflect on how the news of conduct relate to their practice”.

“These codes provide a foundation for safe practice and give guidance on crucial issues such as bullying and harassment, professional boundaries and cultural safety. Nurses and midwives need to meet the standards set in these codes, even if their employer also has a code of conduct,” Professor Cusack said.

Nurses and midwives fought the board in November last year when it was revealed a draft of the new code of conduct replaced references to “woman-centred care” with “person-centred care”.

“Midwife means with woman,” UniSA midwifery professor Mary Steen told the Adelaide Advertiser. “The woman is at the centre of a midwife’s scope of practice, which is based on the best available evidence to provide the best care and support to meet individual women’s health and wellbeing needs.”

Professor Alison Kitson, vice president and executive dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University, agreed.

“Retaining the ‘woman-centred’ term is important to remind us all that our care is focused on the women and the significant life-changing experience they are about to have,” she said.

On social media, users called the new code “stupid”.

“To think that it will help a person with indigenous blood if nurses would acknowledge their ‘white privilege’,” one woman wrote. “This is basically labelling of victims and oppressors by race. How embarrassing for Australia.”

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/healt ... d40804d5a3

[Black Orchid]

Excepts from the Code of Conduct for Nurses ...

3.1 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health
Australia has always been a culturally and linguistically diverse nation. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples have inhabited and cared for the land as the first peoples of Australia for millennia, and their histories and cultures have uniquely shaped our nation. Understanding and acknowledging historic factors such as colonisation and its impact on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health helps inform care. In particular, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples bear the burden of gross social, cultural and health inequality. In supporting the health of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, nurses must:
a. provide care that is holistic, free of bias and racism, challenges belief based upon assumption and is culturally safe and respectful for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples
b. advocate for and act to facilitate access to quality and culturally safe health services for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, and
c. recognise the importance of family, community, partnership and collaboration in the healthcare decision-making of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, for both prevention strategies and care delivery.

Cultural Safety ..

Cultural safety concept was developed in a First Nations’ context and is the preferred term for nursing and midwifery. Cultural safety is endorsed by the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM), who emphasise that cultural safety is as important to quality care as clinical safety. However, the “presence or absence of cultural safety is determined by the recipient of care; it is not defined by the caregiver” (CATSINaM, 2014, p. 91).  Cultural safety is a philosophy of practice that is about how a health professional does something, not [just] what they do. It is about how people are treated in society, not about their diversity as such, so its focus is on systemic and structural issues and on the social determinants of health. Cultural safety represents a key philosophical shift from providing care regardless of difference, to care that takes account of peoples’ unique needs. It requires nurses and midwives to undertake an ongoing process of self-reflection and cultural self-awareness, and an acknowledgement 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 de-colonising model of practice based on dialogue, communication, power sharing and negotiation, and the acknowledgment of white privilege. These actions are a means to challenge racism at personal and institutional levels, and to establish trust in healthcare encounters (CATSINaM, 2017b, p. 112).  In focusing on clinical interactions, particularly power inequity between patient and health professional, cultural safety calls for a genuine partnership where power is shared between the individuals and cultural groups involved in healthcare. Cultural safety is also relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals. Non-Indigenous nurses and midwives must address how they create a culturally safe work environment that is free of racism for their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues (CATSINaM, 2017a3).

[brian ross]

The current Code of Conduct for Nurses and Midwifes:

Principle 3: Cultural practice and respectful relationships

Value
Nurses engage with people as individuals in a culturally safe and respectful way, foster open and honest
professional relationships, and adhere to their obligations about privacy and confidentiality.

3.1 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health
Australia has always been a culturally and linguistically diverse nation. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
peoples have inhabited and cared for the land as the first peoples of Australia for millennia, and their histories
and cultures have uniquely shaped our nation. Understanding and acknowledging historic factors such as
colonisation and its impact on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health helps inform care. In
particular, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples bear the burden of gross social, cultural and health
inequality. In supporting the health of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, nurses must:
a. provide care that is holistic, free of bias and racism, challenges belief based upon assumption and is
culturally safe and respectful for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples
b. advocate for and act to facilitate access to quality and culturally safe health services for Aboriginal and/or
Torres Strait Islander peoples, and
c. recognise the importance of family, community, partnership and collaboration in the healthcare decision-
making of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, for both prevention strategies and care delivery.
See the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023.
See also Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives.
3.2 Culturally safe and respectful practice
Culturally safe and respectful practice requires having knowledge of how a nurse’s own culture, values,
attitudes, assumptions and beliefs influence their interactions with people and families, the community and
colleagues. To ensure culturally safe and respectful practice, nurses must:
a. understand that only the person and/or their family can determine whether or not care is culturally safe and
respectful
b. respect diverse cultures, beliefs, gender identities, sexualities and experiences of people, including among
team members
c. acknowledge the social, economic, cultural, historic and behavioural factors influencing health, both at the
individual, community and population levels
d. adopt practices that respect diversity, avoid bias, discrimination and racism, and challenge belief based
upon assumption (for example, based on gender, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, age or political
beliefs)
e. support an inclusive environment for the safety and security of the individual person and their family and/or
significant others, and
f. create a positive, culturally safe work environment through role modelling, and supporting the rights, dignity
and safety of others, including people and colleagues.
3.3 Effective communication
Positive professional relationships are built on effective communication that is respectful, kind, compassionate
and honest. To communicate effectively, nurses must:
a. be aware of health literacy issues, and take health literacy into account when communicating with people
b. make arrangements, whenever possible, to meet the specific language, cultural, and communication needs
of people and their families, through the utilisation of translating and interpreting services where necessary,
and be aware of how these needs affect understanding
c. endeavour to confirm a person understands any information communicated to them
d. clearly and accurately communicate relevant and timely information about the person to colleagues, within
the bounds of relevant privacy requirements, and
e. be non-judgemental and not refer to people in a non-professional manner verbally or in correspondence/
records, including refraining from behaviour that may be interpreted as bullying or harassment and/or
culturally unsafe.

[Source]

Can't see any mention of "white privilege" there, Black Orchid. Where did you get your quote from?

[Black Orchid]

I believe yours is out of date

https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.a ... dards.aspx

[brian ross]

I believe yours is out of date

https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.a ... dards.aspx

So, it would seem.

Personally, I don't see what your problem is with acknowledging the mistakes of the past, Black Orchid. Funny how you seem hell bent on ignoring history...