Cultural competence and cultural safety in First Nations, Inuit and Métis nursing education : Cultural competency in First Nations, Inuit and Métis nursing education

In other words, the ability to effectively reduce both the inequities and the disparities of health requires being cognizant of the “very real” cultural and social barriers which may exist between First Nation, Inuit and Métis individuals and health service providers in communities and urban centres. [...] The “place” of traditional teachings and the role of Elders, the grandmothers and grandfathers, in promoting the health of Aboriginal peoples. [...] Page 12 Cultural Competency in First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nursing Education Nursing Education and Potential First Nation, Inuit and Métis Nursing Student Candidates A vital part of Canada’s future lies in maximizing the lives and opportunities of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. [...] Reciprocity in nursing education can be achieved when faculty members make the effort to understand and build upon the cultural lifescapes of the students, and the students are able to gain access to the inner-workings of the culture and the institution to which they are being introduced. [...] In a reciprocal relationship, faculty members and students are in a position to create a new kind of education, to formulate new paradigms or explanatory frameworks that help to establish a greater equilibrium and congruence between the literate view of the world and the reality encountered outside the walls of nursing schools and programs.