Respiratory Disorders in Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Female Infants and Children

www.postersession.com
www.postersession.com
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander female
infant or childIntroduction
Introduction
The health disparities between Australians of the rural and
metropolitans city are well documented in the literature
• The lack of appropriate facilities related to education,
income, and healthcare are common issues that further
contributed to a high morbidity rate. They are prime victims
of the high prevalence of respiratory diseases such as
respiratory infection, obesity, hypertension, and cardiac
disease.
• The most affected populations are the females and the
infants of the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
community.
• Respiratory disorders and infections are found to be the
most common reason behind the hospitalization and
suffering of the infants (Schubert et al. 2019).
Case study scenario
Abby, a 7 years old girl, belonging to a small village in the
outskirts of Tasmania, lives with her parents along with two
elder sisters and one younger brother. Recently she has been
arrived with her elder sisters in the emergency due to
difficulties in breathing which is making her feel
uncomfortable.
• She belongs to the aboriginal community and lives with her
people in the outskirts.
• The family source of income is maintained by both her
father and mother.
• Mother sells their traditional handmade jewelry and father
works as labor in a factory located in the nearby town.
• She lives in a poor hygienic condition and with very low
economic status. She also lives in poor housing condition and
frequently exposes to smoke and air pollution. The local
primary health care center is 20 km away from her place which
hinders their access to health care facilities.
• • The medical history highlighted that earlier she had
been a witness sever issues of such as jaundice and breathing
difficulties.
• After recent severity, it was found that she has been
witnessing respiratory tract infection, bronchitis. She started
exhibiting symptoms such as chest discomfort, shortness of
breath and fatigue.
• A majority of children from her tribe has been witnessing a
similar kind if health difficulties.
Nursing or Midwifery Interventions
and Drug Therapy
• In order to reduce shortness of breath, she would require to provide oxygen therapy. Oxygen therapy
reduces hypoxemia and maintains adequate oxygenation of tissues (Jones, Hama and Del Mar 2015).
• Salbutamol with nebulizers can be given to the patient dilating bronchi as well as bronchioles which will
further reduce the resistance in the respiratory airways and increase proper airflow of the lungs which were
blocked before due to bronchitis (Jones, Hama and Del Mar 2015).
• Antiviral treatment such as oseltamivir can be given to the patient. The mode of action of the drug is
that this drug obstructs the neuraminidase enzyme that is expressed on the viral surface and responsible
for the release of the virus from the cells and movement of the virus within the respiratory tract (Jones, Hama
and Del Mar 2015).
• Proper health literacy related to the management of the respiratory disease and treatment healthcare
facility and treatment.
• Providing primary treatment to these infants through Aboriginal Medical Service.
• Providing health literacy regarding five moments of hand hygiene
• Improving daily nutrition uptake by incorporating vegetables and fruits in the diet.
Acute bronchitis is normally caused by viruses, typically microbes causing colds and flu. Mészáros et al. (2015), highlighted that it can be caused by the
infection or exposure to substances such as smoke, fumes, vapors, and air pollution. In Torres Strait Island, approximately 59% of youngsters had a
runny nose and 39% of them had a cough. The rate of bronchitis is 1.5 times higher in indigenous area compared to the population lives in non-
indigenous area.
In the indigenous or rural area of Australia, the prevalence of air pollution is high compared to the metropolitan area of Australia. 76% of children in the
community were exposed to smoke which facilitates respiratory infection. Many researchers also highlighted over-crowding may increase the risk of
respiratory infection by maximizing the cross-infection amongst the family. 16% of indigenous people described that they were existing in overcrowded
homes as compared to 6% of non-Indigenous people who lives in a less crowded area (O'Grady et al. 2018). Moreover, due to poor sanitization, water and
house, the population lives indigenous area frequently experience respiratory infection such as bronchitis as observed in this case study. The common
causative agent of bronchitis is an influenza virus (Chang et al. 2016).
Considering pathophysiology of bronchitis, contributing factors such as smoke, flu virus or vapor facilitate phagocyte migration and release of pro-
inflammatory mediators that stored in the mucous member (O'Grady et al. 2018). . Consequently, two associated reaction are observed such as
impairment of respiratory tract mucous membrane and vessel reaction such as increased permeability of blood vessels, exudation, and mucous membrane
edema. Consequently, the bronchial hyper-secretion is observed in the patients because of irritation and dilation of goblet cells . Hence, the premature
death rates along with malnutrition rate are also high in the indigenous area compared to the population live in non-indigenous parts of Australia.
Pathophysiology/ Prevalence
in Indigenous Communities
Cultural safety
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration) was
proposed in order to provide the aboriginal communities their cultural safety.
• To ensure the culturally safe service, culturally competent health professionals along with
the community people are required to work in order to deliver cultural safety.
• The professionals would be provided with training so that maintain the cultural values and
ethics while delivering nursing and care as they are bound to their religious and cultural ethics.
• In order to facilitate the culturally safe service, the patient can be referred to Aboriginal
Liaison Officer while the patient would be admitted to the hospital. The role of the officer is to
provide emotional and cultural support. They provide access to the health services and increase
the cultural awareness amongst the community (O'Grady et al. 2018). Furthermore, the officer
also facilitates communication with health professionals and decision making of patients.
• The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency serves for the cultural safety of the infants and
children of these aboriginal communities ensuring better treatment and health care outcomes
(Lindstedt et al. 2017)
References
Einsiedel, L.J., Pham, H., Woodman, R.J., Pepperill, C. and
Taylor, K.A., 2016. The prevalence and clinical associations of
HTLV‐1 infection in a remote Indigenous community. Medical
Journal of Australia, 205(7), pp.305-309.
Jones, M., Hama, R. and Del Mar, C., 2015. Oseltamivir for
influenza. The Lancet, 386(9999), pp.1133-1134.
Lindstedt, S., Moeller-Saxone, K., Black, C., Herrman, H. and
Szwarc, J., 2017. Realist review of programs, policies, and
interventions to enhance the social, emotional, and spiritual well-
being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people
living in out-of-home care. The International Indigenous Policy
Journal, 8(3), p.5.
Mészáros, D., Markos, J., FitzGerald, D.G., Walters, E.H. and
Wood-Baker, R., 2015. An observational study of PM10 and
hospital admissions for acute exacerbations of chronic
respiratory disease in Tasmania, Australia 1992–2002. BMJ open
respiratory research, 2(1), p.e000063.
O'Grady, K.A.F., Hall, K.K., Bell, A., Chang, A.B. and Potter, C.,
2018. Review of respiratory disease among Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander children. Australian Indigenous
HealthBulletin, 18(2).
Schubert, J., Kruavit, A., Mehra, S., Wasgewatta, S., Chang, A.B.
and Heraganahally, S.S., 2019. Prevalence and nature of lung
function abnormalities among Indigenous Australians referred to
specialist respiratory outreach clinics in the Northern Territory.
Internal medicine journal, 49(2), pp.217-224.