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In-depth topic course

Cultural Safety in Practice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

Turning the Code of Conduct's Cultural Safety Duties into Everyday Clinical Practice

  • 3 CPD hoursEstimated learning time
  • 20-question assessmentPass mark 80%
  • Online, self-pacedStart any time
  • CertificateFor your CPD records

Written for

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About this course

Every National Board now expects registered practitioners to provide culturally safe care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The National Law includes a cultural safety objective and guiding principle, and every code of conduct sets out what that means: reflecting on your own assumptions and power, providing care free of bias and racism, respecting self-determination, and supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues. Yet many practitioners have only done a short awareness module and are unsure what culturally safe care looks like in a busy clinic, ward or ambulance.

This course closes that gap. It is practical, written for all registered professions, and built around the situations you actually meet: asking the identification question, explaining a test result across languages, gaining consent when a person wants family involved, offering a choice of clinician, supporting a family at end of life, responding when someone wants to leave hospital early, and speaking up when a colleague makes a racist joke.

You will finish with a clear understanding of the regulatory expectations, a set of phrases and checklists you can use the next day, a written reflective account, and a personal cultural safety action plan to record against your CPD plan.

Written and reviewed by

Written by

Dr Hannah Whitmore PhD, MSc, RN

Nursing Education & Professional Practice

Reviewed by (legal reviewer)

Professor James Ellington LLB, LLM, PhD

Healthcare Law, Ethics & Professional Regulation

Reviewed by (editorial team)

Editorial Team Member

Healthcare ethics, professional conduct, patient safety and evidence-based education.

Last reviewed

Our authors and reviewers check course content for accuracy and currency. Completing a course does not guarantee any particular outcome with Ahpra, a National Board, a tribunal or an employer.

Who this course is for

  • Doctors, nurses, midwives, psychologists, pharmacists, paramedics, dentists and allied health practitioners registered in Australia
  • Practitioners who want to understand what their Board's code of conduct means by cultural safety
  • Clinicians in hospitals, general practice, community health, private practice, remote clinics and telehealth
  • Locum, rural and fly-in fly-out practitioners working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
  • Practice managers, team leaders and educators building culturally safe services
  • Practitioners responding to feedback or a concern about culturally unsafe care who want structured learning

What you’ll learn

  • Explain your obligations

    Describe what the National Law, your Board's code of conduct, the National Scheme strategy and the NSQHS Standards expect of you on cultural safety.

  • Reflect on bias and power

    Use a structured six-step reflection to examine your assumptions, the power you hold and the system around you.

  • Communicate and decide together

    Use first-contact skills, the identification question, yarning, interpreters and family involvement to reach shared, valid decisions.

  • Respond when care is unsafe

    Handle complaints, open disclosure and racism at work in a way that acknowledges impact and leads to real change.

Learning objectives

  • Explain the National Scheme definition of cultural safety and why it is determined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
  • Describe how colonisation, racism and implicit bias affect health, trust and clinical decisions.
  • Identify cultural safety expectations in the National Law, your Board's code of conduct and the NSQHS Standards.
  • Use critical reflection to examine your assumptions and the power you hold in clinical relationships.
  • Communicate in culturally safe ways, including the identification question, yarning, interpreters and family involvement.
  • Apply cultural safety to consent, cultural protocols, end-of-life care, mental health and transitions of care.
  • Work in partnership with community-controlled organisations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues.
  • Respond to racism, complaints and culturally unsafe care openly, and document care without bias.
  • Develop a personal cultural safety action plan for your CPD.

Scenarios covered

Practice situations you reason through, step by step, in the course.

  • The label at triage

    A teenager with abdominal pain is described as "drug-seeking". You will practise naming alternatives, using structured assessment and challenging a label that is shaping clinical decisions.

  • Asking the identification question

    A practice avoids asking some patients about Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. You will learn the standard question, how to explain it and how to record the answer.

  • A "positive" result misunderstood

    A man leaves a remote clinic relieved by a "positive" test. You will apply interpreters, plain language and teach-back to avoid dangerous misunderstandings.

  • Family at the bedside

    Thirty relatives arrive as a man is dying in intensive care. You will plan a response that respects family obligations, Sorry Business and safety on the ward.

  • Leaving before treatment ends

    A patient wants to go home early. You will explore the reasons, involve liaison staff, arrange follow-up and document without stigmatising language.

  • A racist joke in the team meeting

    A senior clinician makes a joke about an Aboriginal colleague. You will practise bystander responses and how to support and escalate.

Course contents

8 sections, 35 lessons, then the final assessment.

  1. Section 1: Understanding Cultural Safety4 lessons
    • 1.1 What Cultural Safety Means
    • 1.2 Awareness, Competence and Safety
    • 1.3 Who Decides Whether Care Was Safe
    • 1.4 A Strengths-Based View of Health
  2. Section 2: History, Racism and Health4 lessons
    • 2.1 Colonisation and Its Continuing Effects
    • 2.2 How Racism Shows Up in Health Care
    • 2.3 Implicit Bias and Clinical Decisions
    • 2.4 Health Equity and Closing the Gap
  3. Section 3: The Regulatory Framework4 lessons
    • 3.1 The National Law and Cultural Safety
    • 3.2 Your Board's Code of Conduct
    • 3.3 The National Scheme Strategy
    • 3.4 Organisational Standards and Discrimination Law
  4. Section 4: Critical Self-Reflection and Power4 lessons
    • 4.1 Why Reflection Is the Core Skill
    • 4.2 Power in the Clinical Relationship
    • 4.3 Recognising Your Own Assumptions
    • 4.4 Tools for Structured Reflection
  5. Section 5: Communication and Relationships5 lessons
    • 5.1 First Contact and Building Trust
    • 5.2 Asking About Identity
    • 5.3 Yarning and Clinical Conversations
    • 5.4 Language, Interpreters and Health Information
    • 5.5 Family, Kinship and Decision-Making
  6. Section 6: Culturally Safe Clinical Care5 lessons
    • 6.1 Consent and Shared Decision-Making
    • 6.2 Gender, Privacy and Cultural Protocols
    • 6.3 Serious Illness, Death and Sorry Business
    • 6.4 Social and Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health
    • 6.5 Discharge, Referral and Continuity
  7. Section 7: Working with Communities and Colleagues4 lessons
    • 7.1 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations
    • 7.2 The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce
    • 7.3 Responding to Racism in the Workplace
    • 7.4 Rural, Remote and Telehealth Practice
  8. Section 8: When Care Is Not Culturally Safe5 lessons
    • 8.1 Recognising Culturally Unsafe Care
    • 8.2 Responding to Complaints and Feedback
    • 8.3 Open Disclosure and Restoring Trust
    • 8.4 Documentation Without Bias
    • 8.5 Your Cultural Safety Action Plan
  9. Final assessment and written reflection20 questions

Assessment and certificate

  1. Work through the course

    Study each section at your own pace, including the case illustrations and apply-it questions.

  2. Pass the assessment

    20 scenario-based questions. You need 16 correct (80%) to pass.

  3. Write your reflection

    A short written reflection on how the learning applies to your own practice.

  4. Download your certificate

    Shows your name, the course, the date and 3 CPD hours. Anyone can check it on our verification page.

What you keep for your CPD records

  • A certificate of completion recording approximately 3 hours of CPD learning time
  • A written reflective account based on three cultural safety prompts
  • A personal cultural safety action plan with specific, reviewable actions
  • A one-page quick-reference guide for everyday practice and a reference list of primary sources

How certificates and CPD records workVerify a certificate

Primary sources

The course is built on these official documents. Check them for the current version.

Questions about this course

What is cultural safety in Australian health care?

In the National Scheme, cultural safety is determined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities. Culturally safe practice is the ongoing critical reflection of a practitioner's knowledge, skills, attitudes, practising behaviours and power differentials in delivering safe, accessible and responsive healthcare free of racism.

Is cultural safety a requirement for registered health practitioners?

Yes. The National Law includes an objective and guiding principle on cultural safety, and the codes of conduct for all National Boards include cultural safety expectations. Failing to meet your code can be considered when a Board assesses a concern about your practice.

How is this different from a cultural awareness course?

Awareness courses focus on knowledge of history and culture. This course focuses on cultural safety: examining your own assumptions and power and changing what you do so that people experience your care as safe. It uses Australian clinical scenarios across all professions, with practical phrases, checklists and a reflective action plan.

Does Ahpra or a National Board accredit or approve this course?

No. This is an independent educational course and it is not accredited, not approved and not endorsed by Ahpra, any National Board or any professional body. Under your Board's CPD registration standard you decide whether it fits your CPD plan, and you record the actual time you spend.

How many CPD hours can I record?

The course is designed for approximately 3 hours of learning, including the reflective account and assessment. Record the time you actually spend. Doctors should check how their CPD home categorises the activity, including any cultural safety requirement.

Can I use this course if I have a condition or undertaking from my Board?

Possibly, but you must check first. Confirm with Ahpra or your Board, and with your lawyer or medical defence organisation, whether this course is acceptable before relying on it for a condition, undertaking or response to a notification.

Is the course suitable if I am not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or if I am?

Yes. It is written for all registered practitioners. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners may find the sections on workplace racism, cultural load and the regulatory framework useful, and are invited to adapt the reflection prompts to their own experience.

How long do I have to complete it, and is there an assessment?

The course is self-paced. It ends with 20 scenario-based multiple-choice questions with a pass mark of 16 out of 20, followed by a reflective account you keep with your certificate.