Background: Concerns relating to growing health disparities, as well as inequalities in wider society, have led to a focus on social justice issues within nursing and nurse education. The challenge to nurse educators to prepare graduates to be skilled and safe in their practices, within a globalized and multicultural health care environment, is one that is receiving increasing attention by nurse educators and regulators. The responsibilities of nurses in relation to health inequalities and social injustice is not always clear.
Aim: This paper provides a unique comparative perspective on approaches taken by nursing bodies in Ireland and British Columbia, Canada to cultural safety and other social justice matters.
Methods: This paper draws on the two contrasting fields of nursing practice in Ireland and in British Columbia, Canada to demonstrate two differing approaches by the respective nursing regulatory and educational authorities. An awareness of the legacy of events and experiences within a nation’s history is necessary to understand particular approaches and policy decisions relating to expectations for nursing competencies
Results: There is an inconsistency of approaches to preparing nurses to practice with cultural safety. Additionally, there is no consistent global understanding surrounding the role for nurses in social justice activities. A critical relational pedagogy is proposed as an approach that enables an acknowledgement of relevant sensitivities and equips nurses globally to consider critically their role in countering health inequalities and addressing social justice matters.
Conclusion: There is an urgent need to ensure that policies are developed that enable nurses to be prepared and required to practice cultural safety. The lack of clarity of the nurse’s responsibilities in social justice activities requires policy consistency across global nursing authorities and regulatory bodies.