Nurses are an elite group of individuals who have gone through intense training to care for us and our families. The skills that make nurses employable within our communities are important and nursing within an Indigenous community requires those very same skills. However, it also requires a specific set of skills that include the ability to communicate effectively with Aboriginal people and the ability to utilize a concept that the world of healthcare recognizes as cultural safety.
Aside from the required schooling for nursing in any Indigenous communities, which requires a diploma in Registered Practical Nursing or a degree in Registered Nursing, the ability for a health professional to recognize the specific needs of Aboriginal people is just as important and is a developed skill that employers search for.
O’Sullivan (2013) states in their article:
Canadian health care providers need to focus more on offering “culturally competent care” and creating “culturally safe” environments for Aboriginal people, who tend to avoid seeking medical care because of factors such as negative stereotypes and lingering racism, according to a new report by the Health Council of Canada.
Nurses are the bridges from the doctors to their patients. Ensuring a comfortable and secure patient is critical in being successful at nursing in Aboriginal communities. Employability in an Aboriginal community will take recognition that cultural safety is a high priority and cannot be overlooked and these skills are highlighted in Baba’s (2013) article Cultural Safety in First Nations, Inuit and Metis Public Health:
“The National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) states that cultural safety, “within an Indigenous context means that the educator/practitioner/professional, whether Indigenous or not, can communicate competently with a patient in that patients social, political, linguistic, economic and spiritual realm.”
This video can also help you to understand just what cultural safety is and how it plays a huge part in our healthcare system.
Overall, the major skills and necessary training needed to be employable in the indigenous communities are a diploma or degree in nursing and cultural safety training, the ability to recognize cultural differences and learn to work with those to deliver exceptional healthcare. An individual must recognize that this will play a major role in their success working in any of Canada’s Aboriginal communities and on reservations.
Employability in Healthcare 