Transcultural Health Practices of Emergency Nurses Working With Indigenous Peoples: A Descriptive Study

For decades, health inequalities have persisted among Indigenous peoples. As the Indigenous population is growing in the cities, health care delivery in urban areas can be challenging. Emergency nurses are often the first contact in the health system, and they play a key role in the patient's experience. This study aims to describe the transcultural health practices of Canadian emergency nurses working with Indigenous peoples.

A descriptive study was conducted among 30 emergency nurses.

Approximately 90% of the nurses who participated in the study had not received specific training about Indigenous health. The most common type of culturally appropriate nursing care was clinical examination (mean = 7.22), and sexuality care was the least frequent (mean = 5.47). The nurses were less confident in their ability to interview Indigenous peoples about the importance of home remedies and folk medicine (mean = 5.38).

In summary, emergency nurses had more confidence in their ability to provide technical care than in their knowledge regarding the cultural aspects of providing care. As Indigenous populations face challenges regarding access to health care, specific interventions should be implemented to support better-quality cultural care from emergency nurses.