3804NRS-Primary Healthcare In Australia

Part A

Part B

Introduction  

The nursing practice in Australia plays and important as well as a vital role when it comes to the livelihood of the patients under supervision as well as the people in the community. Hence, it is important to acknowledge that there is a varied amalgamation of different population and cultures across Australia and it is also important to understand the needs of various requirements of services allocated in this country. The primary healthcare includes the basic needs which involves the essential medications, and it needs the participation of the community as well as the individuals. The central importance to universal availability as well as health access has to be understood in this scenario which would result in reducing inequity (Marmot & Jessica, 2014). In the following paragraphs the social determinants of health, vulnerability of certain sub groups in the community, engagement and assessment of the activity as well as the health promotion planning has been described in details.

Discussion

Social determinants 

The social determinants of health care includes various factors for instance:

• The socio economic factors like education or the levels of education, employment opportunities, and the employment income.
• The environment the person is exposed to
• Health status, and life style
• Healthcare support system.

The social determinants is not confined to a particular population but different communities, across Australia which as a whole influence the health conditions of each individual. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) social determinants also influence several distribution of resources, economic conditions and inequities among different groups of communities and people (“World Health Organisation”, 2019). From the given data in Appendix B about mount Isa, it can be understood that the population percentage among people in Mount Isa contributes to 16.6% aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as explained in Part A table. According to report provided by Wang and Hoy (2013), the investigation form 1996 to 2010, points out to the fact that Australian aboriginals are exposed to various cardiovascular deaths and also to kidney as well as renal diseases. The indigenous people of Australia especially those who stay in remote areas are susceptible to the higher mortality risk. The role of education is an inevitable factor when we consider the social determinants of health among the people of this country. The education not only has the potential to influence the health development but also it is an important factor for reducing the social inequities (Cohen & Syme, 2013). From the above discussion in Part A it can be understood that education not only increases the chances of income and better employment but can also affect the livelihood and economic development of the country The education can be directly related with the employment of the population gradient in Mt. Isa. From the data in the table it could be understood that the most of the population that is 26.6 % are engaged in the industrial mining industries in comparison to 0.1% in Queensland and Australia. By this it could be understood that the maximum population of Mt. Isa are exposed to the occupational health hazards than to the healthcare or the education employment ( Ravesteijn, Kippersluis &  Doorslaer, E., 2013). Mining has a potential bio toxic effect on the workers and due to the accumulation of the toxic heavy metals.

Vulnerable group 

The population of Australia is culturally dynamic and there are various linguistic as well as the cultural differences. Hence, as a practicing nurse it is imperative to understand the different stratified layers of cultures and people across the Australian continent. It is clear by the discussion above that there are people present in the rural population in Australia where Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders may be still devoid of the basic primary healthcare. There is a need to understand the cultural sensitivity as well cultural safety by the health practitioners (Freeman et al., 2014). 

Engagement and needs assessment  

As per the discussion in Part A it could be understood that there are certain social determinants like the education, concentration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Mount Isa and their industrial occupation it could be understood that, the basic primary healthcare might not be accessible to these people. There is a drastic rate of decline there population and they are more vulnerable to certain diseases. The health system in Australia is a complex system comprising of different which involves interaction of governmental, public as well as non-governmental organisation. The nurse acts as a mediator between the general population and the practicing physicians. The people from different professional backgrounds should engage and contribute towards allied health services. The involvement of Aboriginal Health Workers (AHW) and Health Workforce Australia along with GPs and regional nurses has shown alignment with WHO PHU principles. Hence, a holistic approach aligned with Strategic framework by the Australian Government would lead to improved interactive healthcare measures and reduced inequity. The entire ambition of primary healthcare includes the need to reduce and remove the social inequities among people across groups and communities, so that is everyone able to access the primary healthcare facilities. In this scenario, the involvement of General Practitioner or GP and regional nurse practitioner is an important longitudinal link between patients or consumers and their accessibility to healthcare units. Patient centred medical homes or PCMH has been successful in many reports and this multidisciplinary care unit can reduce the cost of hospital expenditures as well it may reduce quick and adept response to consumers.

Health promotion planning   

The health promotion in Australia is an important prospective when it comes involvement to the maintaining standards of Primary healthcare in Australia (Bennett, 2013). The involvement of General Practitioners, nurses and people from different communities should come together. Equity and Equality are two different contexts in reference to the healthcare systems in Australia (Kelaher et al.,2014).Incorporation of Aboriginal Health workers, GPs , nurses, community or regional nurses and anaesthetists within a care team according to consumer needs will not only ensure proper healthcare but also collaboration between different sects of people. The problem of inequity does not lie in the healthcare system but the poor health amongst Indigenous Australians lies in social, educational, cultural and medical causes.  The primary healthcare nurses have specific responsibilities and ethical responsibilities. There are numerous health promotion policies. Some are initiated by the Australian Government, the National Strategy Framework Strategy which was initiated on May 2010 (“Department of Health | National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions”, 2019). The government’s main aim is to promote health, treatment, prevention of diseases and early intervention of non communicable diseases like cancer (Fisher et al., 2016). The types of service includes multidisciplinary professions like nurses who are general practice nurses or community nurses, midwives and pharmacists. The aboriginal health workers are incorporated in this type of framework so that they can spread awareness and have the knowledge of preventable diseases. The median of this framework is to develop the healthcare facilities among all Australians specially Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander people. This framework has been developed targeting old, children, parents and people dwelling in rural circumstances who may not get proper healthcare units. Framework also enables the Nurses to participate in educational services that will also lead towards acknowledgement of improved healthcare system in Australia. As our world is progressing more toward urbanisation as well as globalisation, the sustainable socio-economic growth has become extremely imperative in these circumstances.

Summary and conclusion

From the above discussion it could be concluded that in Part A as discussed the social determinants of health play an important factor, when it comes to primary health care in Mount Isa and how these social determinants might influence the concentration of population belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The education, industrial employment play an important factor in terms of primary healthcare. The primary healthcare in Australia is more about holistic healthcare where people from this particular backgrounds can participate together along with nurse and GPs. Hence, this holistic approach not only is concerned with health but also mind, body, environment and social economic factor 

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). Primary health care in Australia, About primary health care – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. [online] Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/primary-health-care/primary-health-care-in-australia/contents/about-primary-health-care [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].

Bennett, C. C. (2013). Are we there yet? A journey of health reform in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 199(4), 251-255.

Cohen, A. K., & Syme, S. L. (2013). Education: a missed opportunity for public health intervention. American journal of public health, 103(6), 997-1001.

Department of Health | National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/nsfcc

Department of Health and Human Services (2019). Determinants of Health | Working in Health Promoting Ways.Retrieved from https://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/wihpw/principles/determinants_of_health

Fisher, M., Baum, F. E., MacDougall, C., Newman, L., & McDermott, D. (2016). To what extent do Australian health policy documents address social determinants of health and health equity?. Journal of Social Policy, 45(3), 545-564.

Freeman, T., Edwards, T., Baum, F., Lawless, A., Jolley, G., Javanparast, S., & Francis, T. (2014). Cultural respect strategies in Australian Aboriginal primary health care services: beyond education and training of practitioners. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 38(4), 355-361.

Kelaher, M., Sabanovic, H., La Brooy, C., Lock, M., Lusher, D., & Brown, L. (2014). Does more equitable governance lead to more equitable health care? A case study based on the implementation of health reform in Aboriginal health Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 123, 278-286.

Michael Marmot, Jessica J. Allen, (2014). Social Determinants of Health Equity. American Journal of Public Health, 104(4), 517-519.

Ravesteijn, B., van Kippersluis, H., & van Doorslaer, E. (2013). The contribution of occupation to health inequality. In Health and inequality (pp. 311-332). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Wang, Z., & Hoy, W. E. (2013). Decreasing rates of natural deaths in a remote Australian Aboriginal community, 1996–2010. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 37(4), 365-370.

World Health Organisation. (2019) About social determinants of health. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/social_determinants/sdh_definition/en/