Cultural Studies: Australian Indigenous Health

The Cultural safety in health care: monitoring framework brings together available data to assess progress in achieving cultural safety in the health system for Indigenous Australians. The framework includes measures on culturally respectful health care services; Indigenous patient experience of health care; and access to health care services. The data are presented at the national, state and regional levels.

Rural and Remote Health is an initiative of the Greater Green Triangle University Department of Rural Health, located in south eastern Australia. It aims to provide an easily accessible, peer-reviewed, international evidence base to inform improvement in health service delivery and health status in rural communities.
RRH is open access:
http://www.rrh.org.au//articles/defaultnew.asp

The project activities include:
1. Collection of 50 multimedia Indigenous stories, available to National Network members.
2. Creation of a National Network of educators who are interested in developing and trialling learning resources.
3. Mapping of potential learning from narratives to curricula.
4. Creation of learning materials by National Network members; and
4. Piloting learning activities with multidisciplinary health students across universities.

Film by Kaye Harrison.
"Crossing the Line follows two young medical students from the University of Tasmania, Amy and Paul, as they leave their safe middle class environments for an eight week placement in the remote indigenous communities on Mornington Island. Here, for the first time, they confront the realities of indigenous health care. As they move beyond their professional roles at times, there is an ongoing tension between their personal experience and the professional distance they are supposed to maintain. This film offers a rare insight into the practical realities of providing Western medical services to indigenous communities and illustrates ways in which engagement can contribute to an improvement in the crisis in Aboriginal health today."

"A four-hour documentary series arguing that "health and longevity are correlated with socioeconomic status, people of color face an additional health burden, and our health and well-being are tied to policies that promote economic and social justice. Each of the half-hour program segments, set in different racial/ethnic communities, provides a deeper exploration of the ways in which social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending their lives be improving them"

Produced by California Newsreel ; in association with Vital Pictures ... [et al.] ; presented by National Minority Consortia ; series creator & executive producer, Larry Adelman. Publisher [San Francisco, Calif.] : California Newsreel, c2008.