How CPD can support you to provide culturally safe practice Leader & Manager, Professional, Health Advocate
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that the resources within this guide may contain images, voices, or names of deceased persons.
Guide index
Library > Library guides > Professional development hub > CPD for clinical support roles
Key areas to consider in planning your CPD include:
Practice evaluation (category 1)
The college welcomes your feedback regarding any potential omissions, misrepresentations, or inaccuracies regarding First Nations peoples, as well as suggestions for additional resources and topics for CPD on cultural safety.
Learn@ANZCA
Use the links below to access additional support resources contained on the Learn@ANZCA platform.
Note: Resources located in Learn@ANZCA require that you first register before accessing.
ANZCA & FPM resources
Unconscious Bias Toolkit by
The following toolkit, developed by the Gender Equity Sub-Committee, provides an introduction to unconscious bias. It explains how unconscious bias influences the care our patients receive and the professional endeavours of our members. It also provides strategies and resources to identify and mitigate the effects of unconscious bias.
External resources
2022 Australian Reconciliation Barometer by 
Aboriginal Cultural Engagement Self Assessment Tool by
NSW Health is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people.
The engagement tool has been designed to assist NSW Health organisations in moving towards a health system where cultural differences and strengths are recognised and responded to in the governance, management and delivery of health services. It will support health services to assess whether there has been a measured approach towards the delivery of culturally safe and accessible health services for Aboriginal patients and clients.
An Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework for New South Wales Hospitals by
Globally, there is a wide range of culture-based frameworks used to reduce health disparities. While this has resulted in a diverse research environment, empirical measures of the effectiveness of many of these approaches are scarce. Increasingly, public health policies are incorporating cultural safety approaches to reorientate health systems towards providing more equitable care to people from marginalised communities. However, the conceptual ambiguity of the term ‘cultural safety’ requires a more systematic examination of its meaning. Further, the complexity and lack of empirical measures of cultural safety necessitate the development of valid and reliable measures based on patient perspectives. The study presented in this thesis involved a mixed-methods approach using semi-structured interviews and a survey subject to exploratory factor analysis to inform the development of a cultural safety framework. Interviews were conducted at two Australian hospitals located in New South Wales (NSW). A total of 50 staff were interviewed over a two-month period. Participants included health workers from a diverse range of roles, including chief executive officers, executive board members, specialist physicians, nurses, medical students, social workers and administrative and service support staff. During the interviews, participants were asked to describe their understanding and practice of cultural safety. Transcripts were analysed using applied thematic analysis in which several key themes were identified. Overall, interviewees had a modest understanding of cultural safety and provided a range of examples of how they incorporated cultural safety in practice. Some staff appeared unwilling to be culturally responsive or had observed practices resulting in the provision of culturally unsafe care. Aboriginal workers experienced distinct challenges with respect to their own and their patients’ cultural safety, with many interviewees reporting experiencing racism in the workplace. The implementation of cultural safety appeared to be compromised by what clinicians could do within the structural restrictions of the system. The conflict between governance structures and the agency of individual staff members was identified as a significant barrier impeding the implementation of health policies that seek to enhance patient cultural safety. For the quantitative arm of the study, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander patients attending NSW hospitals were invited to participate in a survey designed to measure cultural safety from the patient perspective. Using targeted recruitment strategies, participants were selected from two tertiary hospitals. Opportunistic recruitment was also undertaken to enlist patients attending NSW hospitals outside of the target sites. In total, 316 surveys were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, which showed adequate internal and external consistency of domains. Overall, it was found that the survey provides a robust measurement of cultural safety. In addition to exploratory analysis, a cultural safety score was produced for each hospital site. Results from the qualitative survey questions reveal that the support of family and Aboriginal staff is important in determining culturally safe experiences. Both the qualitative and quantitative findings were used in the development of a cultural safety framework for NSW hospitals. This framework may be a valuable tool for measuring and guiding cultural safety initiatives in Australian hospitals.
Call It Out Racism Register. The First Six Months by
This report provides a preliminary analysis of the incidents of racism recorded during the first six months of the Call It Out Register, covering the period 21 March 2022 to 20 September 2022. The analysis set out in this report focuses on select issues or areas.
Cultural Safety in Trauma-Informed Practice from a First Nations Perspective: Billabongs of Knowledge by
This book provides an accessible resource for conducting culturally safe and trauma-informed practice with First Nations' peoples in Australia. Designed by and for Australian Indigenous peoples, it explores psychological trauma and healing, and the clinical and cultural implications of the impacts of colonization, through an Indigenous lens. It is a companion for anyone who works or will work with our families and communities. The authors recognise trauma at the heart of all Indigenous disadvantage, and explore types of trauma in the context of Indigenous, collective cultures. The chapters take an Indigenous 'Yarning' approach to sharing knowledge, and encourage readers to challenge their unconscious, long-held beliefs and worldviews. Nicole Tujague and Kelleigh Ryan identify the differences between mainstream systems and more holistic Indigenous understandings of social and emotional health and wellbeing and outline a meaningful practice framework for practitioners. They analyse types of complex trauma, including intergenerational, institutional, collective and historical trauma; and discuss the impacts of racism and the concept of 'cultural load'. They also address vicarious, or "compassion" trauma experienced by front line workers and carers; and offer insights into their experience of working with collective healing programs. This book is essential reading for Indigenous practitioners and service providers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is also a valuable resource for students likely to work with First Nations' peoples within a broad range of health and social science disciplines.
Cultural Safety within Vocational Medical Training. Report of Te ORA and the Council of Medical Colleges by
The CMC in partnership with Te ORA commissioned this report to look at actions medical colleges are taking to support health equity, and to seek feedback on how Māori fellows and trainees experience vocational medical training. The report provides a knowledge base to support the evolution of vocational medical training towards cultural safety.
Deficit Discourse and Strengths-based Approaches: Changing the Narrative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing by
This report explores strengths-based approaches to shifting the deficit narrative in the Australian aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector. Studies, including a companion report to this one entitled Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Health: How Narrative Framings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People are Reproduced in Policy, have identified a prevalent ‘deficit discourse’ across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy and practice. There is evidence that deficit discourse has an impact on health itself — that it is a barrier to improving health outcomes. Accordingly, there are growing calls for alternative ways to think about and discuss Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing. This report builds on Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Health by reviewing and analysing a growing body of work from Australia and overseas that proposes ways to displace deficit discourse in health, or that provides examples of attempts to do so. The most widely accepted approaches to achieving this come under the umbrella term ‘strengths-based’, which seek to move away from the traditional problem-based paradigm and offer a different language and set of solutions to overcoming an issue.
INNOVATE Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP): January 2023 – January 2025 by 
Medical Training Survey 2022 by
The Medical Training Survey (MTS) is proving to be an invaluable diagnostic tool, shining a light on the state of medical training in Australia.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by 
Whakatika : A Survey of Māori Experiences of Racism. by
This report presents findings of the Whakatika Survey, which aimed to capture the nature, extent and impact of everyday experiences of racism faced by us as Māori in Aotearoa.
ANZCA acknowledges the traditional custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises their unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and seas and their rich contribution to society. We pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past, present, and emerging.
ANZCA acknowledges and respects Māori as the Tangata Whenua of Aotearoa and is committed to upholding the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, fostering the college’s relationship with Māori, supporting Māori fellows and trainees, and striving to improve the health of Māori.
