Shifting the academic lens: Development of an interdisciplinary Indigenous health nursing course

Abstract

In Canada, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Calls to Action (2015) calls on nursing schools to requires in part, all students to take Aboriginal health issues inclusive of the history and legacy of residential schools, Aboriginal rights and Indigenous teachings and practices (TRC, 2015, p.3). Further, the TRC calls upon governments to increase the number of Aboriginal professionals working in the health-care field. The development of an interdisciplinary Indigenous health nursing course was timely in response to the TRC Calls to Action (2015) and an opportunity to weave interdisciplinary tenets of western nursing ontologies and epistemologies with Indigenous ways of knowing and being into a shared tapestry to insure future sustainability of health services and has secondary impacts on nursing recruitment and retention. Honoring protocols, engagement of Aboriginal Peoples through lessons learnt in northern, rural roots, partnerships and embracing a student-centered teaching pedagogy prompts a shift in the academic lens.