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Following two years of extensive consultation by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) the new codes of conduct for nurses and midwives have been released. These revised codes have an important new inclusion: the principle of cultural safety.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), Australian College of Nursing, Australian College of Midwives and the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) all participated in each stage of the development and consultation on the new codes.
Responding to publicly aired misinformation these peak organisations for nurses and midwives have shown leadership by carefully and considerately explaining the benefits for all people when nurses and midwives provide culturally safe practice.
In their joint statement with the NMBA the four organisations expressed unequivocal support for the codes' guidance on respectful care to improve health outcomes for Australia's First Peoples.
NMBA's new codes of conduct feature cultural safety because 'racial discrimination is well documented as a contributing factor to poor health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians' (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2005).
The codes require that the care nurses and midwives provide eliminates racism and creates an environment in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can feel safe to talk about their healthcare needs. In doing this, the codes are simply asking nurses and midwives to reflect, as they do in all areas of practice, about preconceived beliefs on...