Australian Rural Health-The Role Of Nursing Practice - Essay Example

Australian rural Health-The role of nursing practice The health status of the Australian population can be determined by social, economic, environmental and lifestyle factors. For people living in rural Australia additional factors indirectly impact on health status. These factors include; ethnicity, employment, the employability of the communities, demographic features such as ageing populations, geography, climate, and access to information and attitudes to health and illness. In addition, rural health disadvantage is exacerbated by; The accessibility to the rural areas The supporting staff placed in these rural areas Their livelihood which leads them to injuries and accidents The transport infrastructure quality like the roads and the means of transport Scattered villages spread over vast expanses The above specified reasons are to addressed more precisely when we are concentrating on rural health. The health condition of the average rural individuals is not good when compared to his counterpart living in cities and towns where the proximity to the medical attention is more precise. There is great need to pay attention to the rural health ambience and the people who offer services to the rural population. The services personal are not placed according to the requirement in the rural which resulted lack of performance by the rural health community groups in rural areas. The scare of the rural health personal averted the need to train and orient nurses to work in these areas. The shortage of nurses is raising at an alarm rate which lead to the governments to rethink the strategies to be adopted .The ever demanding needs are to addressed by the nurses in various operational areas which were new and demand more awareness of the health systems in the rural areas. The changing dimensions of the rural health needs are not ably matched with the education perceived by the nurses. Various factors which hinder the nursing practice are: the lack of specific job description the demand for multi-skilled and flexible workers the social and occupational roles of the nurse in a specific community local demands for nursing care that require other application than not solely related to medical care Need for self reliance in the absence of specialist support extension of the nursing role into that of many other health professions; The recruitment & retention of the nurses The recruitment and retention is a challenging aspect as the growing need of rural health care demands more and more skilled and service oriented individuals. The employees especially ladies have to work in alien work environment. The responsibility will be more and accountability will be more when compared to the nurses working in the urban environment. The job activities demand more individuality and pressure handling mentality to cope with the emergencies arising .The supporting staff and equipment will be less when compared to nurses working in urban hospitals The future projections state that there will be an acute shortage in the rural health camps as many skilled veterans will be retiring .The recruitment pace didn't gather momentum. The demand for the skilled workforce in nursing was not met. The retention is another major hurdle as the individuals are isolated from the social and family to serve the community. The employees cannot avoid their personal life for longer durations and opt to retain them which may affect the service pace of the community health services. The employees will not be paid extra for opting to work in rural areas. The salaries are not encouraging to them to perceive the job with more confidence and with dedication .The growth will be at snail pace where their counter parts in cities earning more. The performance appraisal and incentives are not provided to lift their spirits. More over the nurses have to accommodate to the new culture and traditions to serve in the remote areas.. Workplace issues, include safety, intra- and inter-professional relationships, maintaining currency and specialist skills, and access to education etc perceived by nurses as deterrents to practicing in rural. Due to lack of specific staff for specific concerns, nurses in rural have to perform multiple tasks in a given situation. For performing these tasks neither are trained nor are they oriented to the extreme working conditions. The current curriculum in the academic college doesn't support the rural nursing practices as the course content is more generalized to the common concerns of the health. Where as the rural community health is indigenous and unique to the general ailments and needs special knowledge to diagnose and address problem .There is need for specialized section of study for the rural nursing practice. The course content should empower the nursing students about the uniqueness against the conventional nursing course. The availability, access, and status of their courses have to enhanced to imbibe professionalism in rural nursing practice. The pay structure, the rural nurses personal incentives should be provided to encourage them to relocate to the rural areas. The rural students should be encouraged to take nursing as the career as it reduces the unemployment. The native community nurses will be more aware about the conditions prevailing and would be comfortable serving their own community. The universities and health organizations (CATSIN) should conglomerate to organize the health facilities in the rural and encourage research and development in enhancing the rural health services. There should be clear and distinct understanding in the broader community about the complexity of nursing. Need for a strong educational base. Knowledge of the decision-making requirements of nurses and the independent Nature of much of the work that nurses perform Nursing should not be seen to be a dead-end job with minimal chance for Advancement.. There is an increased range of other career options for those people who would possibly consider nursing as a career. Ethics in Practicing Nurses who are practicing their profession in rural areas should be kept known about the legal issues involved in authorizing the medical treatment independently to make them cautious about their treatment. The awareness will create knowledge and keeps the nurse informed in the legality in forwarding a treatment and their results if the treatment failed to cure. The legal awareness allows them to know their boundaries in moving forward with the treatment. Nurses at times in the isolated environment my not have the interaction with the new skills and systems in treating the aliments .The isolation may not allow them to update with the new applications in treatments and there by hinder their knowledge unable to tune with the rest of the world. At the same time the individuality and isolation at times results in generating new ideas and concepts in treatments .They practicing nurses will not have the scope to hone their skills in specific domain as they are forced to monitor multiple activities due to shortage of staff. This omni-present quality will result in degrading the quality. The lack of service personal forces nurses to treat beyond the legal formalities of issuing medicines and perceiving other emergencies It is not realistically possible to cover all contingencies that arise in rural health services with the human and material resources. Medical practitioner pharmacists' radiographers are not always available on-site, or by telephone or radio, on all occasions advice or personal intervention is required for emergency or basic health care in rural areas. The communication gap between the medical practitioners and nurse may hinder the medical services However it is essential for them to carry these activities .There fore the scope and authorities of operation have to be expanded for quality nursing practice Trends in medical practice The technologies advancement in various has not left the medical field untouched. The applications and the treatments systems have rapidly changed to high quality treatment. The technological advances can be broadly divided into two categories direct medical treatment technology with the modern equipments installed such as patient monitoring, ventilation technology etc and remote communication technology such as the Internet, telemedicine. The expenses incurred to perceive these high technology medical treatments are a bit higher. The distribution of the services should done uniformly and the nurses should be trained to new application to boost their performance. However the internet communication systems may have an important role to play in the rural medical treatment. The nurses practicing in the rural areas will be well supported by the experienced counterparts in cities. The technological changes will enhance the medical response and the quality of treatment. For implementing this high communication systems and training: Physical infrastructure has to be placed. Funds have to be generated with public and private partnerships The service personal like the nurse should be trained in operating the equipments High-end gadgets like the Tele-conferencing machines, internet has to be positioned These high end technological devices enhances the spirits of the nursing practitioners and allow them to respond quickly. The Australian health services are backed up with the efforts from several organizations working to promote quality medical treatment in rural areas. NRHN: The National Rural Health Network National Rural Health Network (NRHN) is an apex organization representing several university Rural Health Clubs (RHCs) . The NRHN provides a national, united student voice on issues pertinent to rural and remote health through representation, networking, professional development and initiatives. The NRHN has remote medical training as an important component to promote medical services in rural areas. NRHN stressed on the important of the welfare of the workforce like the nursing practitioners and insisted to implement incentives as applicable to the other medical practitioners. The incentive programs from the government and increase in the flow of the funds will drive the recruitment and retention system. The NRHN supports the recommendation for the health workforce improvement agency to work on implementing changes like job satisfaction, position redesign and flexibility, new funding opportunities tailor made to best suit the rural working environment. AARN: Association of Australian Rural Nurses Inc AARN is an organization which represents the nursing community of Australia and liaisons with the outer environments. The main responsibilities include, lending of the voice in support the nursing practice in debates, asserts the importance of funding to the cause of rural nursing, dealing with the work environment issues and educating them. Acts as an mediator with the other medical organizations and departments for the sake of the nursing practice in rural areas. CRANA: Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia Founded in by group of nurses in1983 to project the issues related to remote health nation wide. The aim of this organization is to project the hardship in accessing, the quality of services to the remote regions of Australia. The main activities include organizing national level meets to support the isolated workforce. CRANA asserts on the contribution of the views and thoughts from the rural nursing practitioners to enhance the service in the isolated regions. The organization works closely with Australian nursing Federation to uplift the status of remote nurses. CRANA in collaboration with ANF works in recruitment, Retention of the work force in remote areas, working on providing the facilities for the remote nursing practitioners, Educating the nurses about conditions prevailing in the rural areas and orienting them towards working in remote areas. Mediating for the concerns of the nursing with relevant organizations. Development of strategies and policies to cope with the growing concerns with the nurses working in rural/remote areas. NRHA: National Rural Health Alliance Inc The NHRA works for the development of the remote Australians. It works in collaboration with the other organizations to uplift the medical conditions of the remote Australians. NHRA has asserted the advantage of implementing the technologies changes to uplift the performance levels of rural and remote nursing practitioners. They have taken a survey to implement IT services in isolated areas. Preparation of draft about the working environment in rural areas Conclusion: Nursing practice is an ever demanding job opportunity to work in extreme environments, but it is essential that the people, organizations, governments to be pro-active in providing the necessary facilities in demand by the service professional. There is need to modify current nursing education systems, awareness levels, medical treatment standards and implementing new features to cope with the new concerns of the rural population. There is a need to regulate the attrition levels and enhance the work environment of the rural nursing practitioners to value their services in the unhealthy conditions. 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