Institutional racism: a discursive paper

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide discourse regarding awareness of institutional racism, from a non-Indigenous, Australian nursing student's perspective. The discussion has a focus on the presence of institutional racism in the Australian healthcare system, its impact on the health of First Nation Peoples and a commitment to ensuring culturally safe practice. It will be argued that institutional racism is pervasive in healthcare as a consequence of three factors: exclusion of First Nations Peoples from governance roles, inherent racism impacting on socio-cultural treatment bias, and institutional racism influencing key relationships in healthcare delivery.

Keywords: Cultural Safety; Indigenous health; institutional racism; nursing.