“Taking our blindfolds off”: acknowledging the vision of First Nations peoples for nursing and midwifery

Abstract

This editorial responds to a recent reminder from an Elder to acknowledge and respect First Nations ways of knowing, doing, and being as health professionals and researchers. This reminder asked us to critically reflect on our professional stance and practices as nurses, midwives and researchers in the light of the fire that still burns at the Aboriginal tent Embassy and recent dialogues for Australia Day. In light of the international Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, we discuss the importance of our shared roles and responsibilities to continue to challenge racism and oppressive practices in Australian health care. Decolonising nursing and midwifery practice, policy, research, and education approaches offer a clear transformational reform process to address oppressive practices and racism including attitudes, ignorance and bias, generalisations, assumptions, uninformed opinions and commit to developing and embedding cultural safety in the nursing and midwifery profession.