Assessment task: 1000 words. Read the case study and write four separate,250-word paragraphs with subheadings, to demonstrate your understanding of delivering culturally safe health care.
Case Study
You are working a shift at an inner-city Melbourne hospital and you observe the following scenario:
Your colleague Mary needs to collect bloods from a new patient.
Mary reads the admission notes of David, who has come from emergency. David is 58-years old, has identified as Aboriginal and has presented with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes.
Mary makes her way to the ward before the doctor and other medical staff arrive. Mary enters the room is surprised to see a fair-skinned male in the bed, she asks out loud if he’s the Aboriginal man.
Mary is looking at the admission notes when she asks how he’s feeling. David is presenting as slightly agitated and tells Mary that his sister dropped him off at the hospital, and now he doesn’t know if she found a park or has driven home.
Mary doesn’t respond but instead focuses on the task as she moves closer to the bed to ask David for consent to take blood. He pulls his arm away.
Mary tells him not to make things difficult, that she is very busy, and the doctor is coming soon.
Structuring your writing:
Paragraph 1
Institutional responsibility: Identify and describe ways the workplace can implement cultural safety to educate and empower staff and make the hospital welcoming to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Paragraphs 2 – 4
Individual responsibility: Below are four topics relating to delivering culturally safe health care. Think about these in the context of the case study. Choose three from the list and identify and describe ways you can implement these aspects of cultural safety in your place of work.
1. Advocacy – addressing unconscious bias and racism
2. Communication – spoken and unspoken communication
3. Partnerships – culturally appropriate supports and services for patients
4. Colonial narrative – historical impact on contemporary wellbeing
Process:
• Base your responses based on what you learn in class, and from the resources supplied
• References are not required – it is a discussion, and you can write in the first person.
• Read the rubric set up for this assessment task carefully.
• Upload to Dropbox by 11.59pm Friday of Week 3
