Cultural Safety

The 2009 Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing & Canadian Nurses Association publication of the Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Nursing Education: A Framework for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nursing. This Framework provided the TRU School of Nursing and other Schools of Nursing across Canada the opportunity to work with the concepts and principles and explore ways to develop competencies among faculty and students.

For each of the core competencies, a number of potential learning strategies and outcomes are listed. These core competencies are supported by two foundational concepts:

• Constructivist Understanding of Culture: Culture is understood as being enacted relationally through history, experience, gender and social position.
• Cultural Safety: Cultural safety requires practitioners to move beyond cultural awareness by understanding/challenging power differentials and addressing inequities. It requires improving access to health care and recognizing that cultural safety is determined by those to whom nurses provide care. Cultural safety is action oriented and is a good fit with nursing’s advocacy role.

On March 4 and 5, 2010, the School of Nursing held a Strategy Session as part of a systematic process to identify how we can integrate the 2009 Framework for Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Nursing Education. Read the report to find out more about the outcomes of this strategy session:

Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Nursing Education