February 10, 2023
Cultural safety training extended to doctors
In what’s being called a world first, a Cultural Safety Training Plan will be added to the curriculum of New Zealand’s medical colleges.
Professor David Tipene-Leach, the chair of Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa which worked on the plan with the Council of Medical Colleges Chair, says it’s a key part of the move toward achieving health equity for Māori.
The training will make doctors examine the impact of their own culture on their work with patients;
commit to address any of their own biases, attitudes, assumptions, stereotypes, prejudices that may affect the quality of care provided to patients;
and engage in ongoing self-reflection and self-awareness to hold themselves accountable for providing culturally safe care, as defined by the patient and their communities.
Professor Tipene-Leach says while cultural safety is applicable to all cultural, ethnic, religious and other social groups, the focus on Māori health outcomes is immediately obvious and intentional.
Cultural safety has been a feature of nursing training since a campaign by Māori in the 1990s.