Indigenous Terminology & Peoples
The umbrella term in Canada for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.
What is Indigenous?
The word for taking control of another people’s land, resources, and culture.
What is colonization?
Boil-water advisories, overcrowded housing, and mold reflect this determinant.
What is the physical environment
You’re about to give IV morphine to a post-op client who’s very drowsy. What single assessment determines if you should hold the dose and notify the provider?
What is the respiratory rate (hold if <12/min) and level of sedation?
A post-op client on morphine presents with RR 8/min and pinpoint pupils. Which antidote should you prepare to reverse opioid toxicity?
What is naloxone
The term used in the Constitution (still seen in policy) but many prefer Nation-specific names today.
What is Aboriginal?
The institutions that took Indigenous children away from their families and communities.
What are residential schools?
The right of communities to set priorities and make decisions about programs that affect them.
What is self-determination?
The tray just arrived and you have an order for lispro insulin. For safe administration, when should you give it?
What is right with the meal/within 15 minutes of eating?
A family member wants to press the PCA button “to help” the sleepy patient. What’s the safest response?
What is only the patient may press the PCA button?
A distinct people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry with a unique culture and the Michif language.
Who are the Métis?
The 1876 federal law that controlled Indigenous identity, land, and governance.
What is the Indian Act?
This triad reflects socioeconomic position and is strongly linked to life expectancy across populations.
What are income, employment, and social status?
Before giving digoxin to an adult, what assessment must you perform for a full minute, and when should you hold?
What is the apical pulse for 1 minute; hold if <60 bpm (and assess for toxicity)?
You’re giving Warfarin PO daily. Which lab guides safe adjustments?
What is INR/ PT
is also another term used to refer to the original inhabitants of Canada.
What is First Peoples?
The removal of Indigenous children from their homes and placement with non-Indigenous families during the 1960s.
What is the Sixties Scoop?
These four data-sovereignty principles guide First Nations control of information: Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession.
What are the OCAP® principles?
What blood transfusion reaction is often associated with respiratory distress/dyspnea, tachycardia, hypertension, jugular venous distention, and pulmonary edema that manifests as a cough productive of pink-frothy sputum?
Transfusion associated circulatory overload (TACO)
Giving this life-saving drug though the IV route instead of the IM route during anaphylaxis can cause dangerous arrhythmias, severe hypertension, or cardiac arrest.
What is epinephrine?
A legal term from the Indian Act, avoid in everyday clinical conversation unless referring to legal status.
What is ‘Indian’?
The national initiative that documented survivors’ stories and issued Calls to Action for truth, healing, and reconciliation.
What is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission?
This child-first rule addresses jurisdictional gaps so First Nations kids receive services without delay.
What is Jordan’s Principle?
Giving this calcium-containing IV solution (isotonic crystalloid) in the same line as blood products can cause life-threatening clot formation.
What is Ringers Lactate/Lactated Ringers?
IV heparin is running and the patient begins bleeding. Which antidote should be given?
Protamine sulfate