Acute health care and Australia's ethnic people

At some stage, people of non-English speaking background (NESB) living in Australia will require acute health care. This in itself is not particularly remarkable or problematic; however, as the mainstream services available to the community are essentially monocultural (i.e. reflect the domination of Anglo-Australian cultural values), it is questionable as to whether the unique needs of Australia's culturally diverse people are being met. The discussion will focus on some of the problems encountered by people of NESB and/or culturally different backgrounds in acute health care services. Nursing as a profession defends rigorously the notions of holistic and morally accountable nursing practice. For my part, it is difficult to accept that unacceptable nursing attitudes and practices toward patients of culturally different backgrounds have been tolerated by the nursing profession--not least, in its failure to correct them, and by virtue of its silence which has, until recently, tacitly validated them. While it might be said that the case studies presented here are few and limited, I am sad to say that there are many other similar examples (see Johnstone & Kanitsaki 1991a, Kanitsaki 1989a, 1983, Parsons 1990). Certainly these cases 'speak for themselves' in depicting a range of unacceptable nursing behaviours.