Development and Historical Context of Australian Healthcare System

This document provides an overview of the development and historical context of the Australian healthcare system. It discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the system, the overall structure of healthcare, the evolution of the nursing profession, and current perspectives and opportunities for career development. It also explores the role of nursing regulatory authorities and the impact of cultural barriers on nursing practice. Additionally, it addresses health issues faced by migrants and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. The document concludes with a discussion on the impact of healthcare funding and resource allocation, political influences on healthcare delivery, and current issues impacting clinical practice and health policy development.

ASSESSMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.) Development and historical context of the Australian health care system.................................1
2.) Strengths and Weaknesses of the Australian health care system...............................................1
3.) Overall structure of health care system......................................................................................1
4.) Ways in which nursing profession has evolved over time outlining major historical events....2
5.) Current perspectives of the nursing profession including the opportunities for career
development in Australia.................................................................................................................2
6.) Philosophical framework underpinning primary health care.....................................................3
7.) Explain the role of the following nursing regulatory authorities, industrial and professional
bodies...............................................................................................................................................3
a) Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.............................................................................3
b) Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation.......................................................................3
c) Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.................................................................3
d) Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council.....................................................4
8.) Three possible health and illness issues faced by people migrated to Australia........................4
9.) Role of Centrelink in relation to health insurance and financial support...................................4
10.) Two health issues prevailing among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in
Australia...........................................................................................................................................4
10.1) Cardiac health issues:.........................................................................................................4
10.2) Diabetes:.............................................................................................................................4
11.) Three examples of healthcare environments an enrolled nurse could practise in Australia....5
12.) Cultural barriers for nurses.......................................................................................................5
13.) Availability of healthcare funding and resource allocation impact the health care delivery in
Australia...........................................................................................................................................5
14.) Example of a political impact on healthcare delivery which might result in a constraint on
services............................................................................................................................................5
15.) Current issues impacting on clinical practice and health policy development.........................6
16.) Ways in which Enrolled Nurses work to uphold Principles of Primary Care and Wellness. . .6
Positivity is empowerment (principle of wellness).....................................................................6

17) A resident who is admitted in your aged care facility yesterday asked you whether he can
take his herbal (Ayurvedic) medicine which he usually takes to overcome indigestion problems.
The resident is prescribed with new medications as per his medication chart. What is the best
response in this scenario?................................................................................................................7
REREFENCES................................................................................................................................8

1.) Development and historical context of the Australian health care system
Australia has a vast and highly developed healthcare system. Healthcare facilities in
Australia is delivered by both government and by private sector organizations. Independent
medical research institutes have played a vital role in development of Australian medical and
healthcare sector (Dixit and Sambasivan, 2018). In 1910 first medical research facility was
established in northern Queensland. In 1936 NHMRC was established in order to better treat and
understand causes of diseases vitamins, viruses, endocrine disorders and many more. In 1969
NHMRC published their first code to guide use of animals in research. Till 2005 more than 40
percent Australian medical research universities had collaborated with other international
universities. In 2007 Australian code for the responsible conduct of research was developed that
provided guidance on responsibilities of institutions and researchers when conducting research.
In 2009 first private healthcare insurance rebate was introduced. This project was of overall $4
billion.
2.) Strengths and Weaknesses of the Australian health care system
Strengths: One of the main strengths of Australian health care sector is its general practice
foundation. They have excellent GP who help in improving health and illness of their patients
(Chun Tie, Birks and Mills, 2018). They also mainly focus on identifying all kinds of risk factors
associated with the illness first.
Weakness: Implementation of poor information technology. Duplication, waste and mistakes can
never be eradicated due to which chances of clinical errors increases.
3.) Overall structure of health care system
Australian healthcare system structure has its roots in Australian federal system of
government. Three layers of government helps in providing excellent health care facilities
locally, state level, territory and federal (Smart, Williamsand Lyndon, 2016). All the support to
healthcare professionals is provided by federal government. State government have
responsibility of managing healthcare facilities of public hospitals.
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Figure 1 Strucutre of Australian healthcare system
4.) Ways in which nursing profession has evolved over time outlining major
historical events
Initially when nursing profession began, nurses were provided with very little
professional training because of which their role in providing care to patients was very little.
Slowly nurses were provided with training to enhance their medical skills so that they can
provided excellent service to patients but initially nurses were just an extension of nursing care
that was provided to patients at their homes (Smart, Williamsand Lyndon, 2016). With time data
nursing profession has changed drastically. Today various kinds of extensive training programs
are being provided to their nurses, their medical knowledge is also enhanced so that they can
provide good quality care to the patients.
5.) Current perspectives of the nursing profession including the opportunities
for career development in Australia
Nursing is a kind of promotion, protection, health and abilities optimization in order to
prevent injury and illness by diagnosing and treating patient’s illness or disease (Van den Broek
and Groutsis, 2019). Opportunities for nurses is continuously increasing as need and requirement
for nurses for aged patients, long term medical requirements etc are increasing.
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6.) Philosophical framework underpinning primary health care
Primary healthcare is the first level of care which is provided to the patients. It is also
referred to any kind of health care service which is being provided outside the hospital. A person
with absence of disease or illness is viewed as healthy (Amin and et al., 2018). There are various
determinants of health that includes physical, psychological, social and cultural factors. All these
factors together affect overall quality of life of patients as well as their well- being. In order to
provide proper care to patients it is important to discuss features of primary care such as
community control overall kinds of healthcare services, discussion of prevention, health
promotion, affordability, accessibility, technology acceptance, care equality and many more.
7.) Explain the role of the following nursing regulatory authorities, industrial
and professional bodies
a) Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
NMBA undertakes functions as a set by Health Practitioner Regulation National Law in
force in each territory and state (Curtis and et al., 2017). NMBA regulates Nursing and
Midwifery practises within Australia. Their one of the main roles is to protect the public. They
fulfill their roles with the help of professional codes, registration standards, standards and
guidelines for practises that helps in establishing requirements for safe professional practises of
Nursing and Midwifery in Australia.
b) Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
ANMF’s main objectives is to focus on bringing improvement in working and paying
condition of all the members who work in health care (Daly, Speedy and Jackson, 2017).
Whenever a nurse starts their career as a nurse ANMF assist them about all kinds of information
related to pay rate, education, career development and many more.
c) Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
They work within national borders with 15 national boards in order to help and protect
public by regulating all registered Australian health practitioners. Each board has their own
health profession agreement that includes all kinds of budget, fees and services that are provided
by Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Hartin, Birks and Lindsay, 2018). Their
main primary role is to protect the public and set some standards, policies that all the registered
health practitioners are required to be meet
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d) Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council
It is an accreditation authority who is responsible for accrediting education providers and
programs of study for the nursing and midwifery profession. There are various kinds of standards
that have been set by ANMAC so that education programs for nurses and midwifery can be
accredited.
8.) Three possible health and illness issues faced by people migrated to
Australia
There are various kinds of health and illness issues that are being faced by people who
migrated to Australia both legally or illegally. There are three main health issues that are mostly
faced by migrants who have migrated to Australia: HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis A and B.
these diseases have happened to appear low in Australia but is mostly founded in migrants (Birks
and et al., 2017). It has also been observed that these health issues are majorly pregnant ladies
who have migrated to Australia because of which health risk for mother and unborn child
increases.
9.) Role of Centrelink in relation to health insurance and financial support
Centrelink is an organization delivered by Australian Government Department of Human
Services that support people with all kinds of payments and services at the time of major
changes. They majorly deliver services and payments to unemployed, retirees, carers parents,
families, disabled people, indigenous Australians and people from culturally diverse background.
10.) Two health issues prevailing among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people in Australia
10.1) Cardiac health issues:
As compared to non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
have high risk of cardiac health issues (Aitken, Marshall and Chaboyer, 2016). This is mainly
because of physical inactivity, being overweight, poor nutrition, high cholesterol, high blood
pressure and many more. According to a research it was observed that more than 40 percent
Aboriginal people who are above 40 have higher risk of suffering from Cardiac health issues.
10.2) Diabetes:
According to a research it was observed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are
much higher risk of type 2 diabetes as compared to general population of Australis. As per the
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research prevalence of type of diabetes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander is approximately
3 to 4 times higher in as compared to other Australians this is mainly because of their traditional
lifestyle, food that they eat and many more.
11.) Three examples of healthcare environments an enrolled nurse could
practise in Australia
 Their healthcare practise and functions are according to policies, laws and procedures that
affect Enrolled nurses’ practises (Wang, Whitehead and Bayes, 2017).
 Accepts accountability and responsibility for own’s actions.
 Provide skilled and timely care to patients and take appropriate decision- making.
12.) Cultural barriers for nurses
There are various kinds of cultural barriers for nurses that affects their engagement with
the patient. Some of the most common cultural barriers for nurses are as follows: directive
communication or mis- communication, people from different cultures have different
perspective.
13.) Availability of healthcare funding and resource allocation impact the
health care delivery in Australia
There are various kinds of Medicaid covers available there are being provided to the
people. It is one of the main public funding supports that directly impact delivery of health
care that can be accessed by at least 11 percent of people who are uninsured (Berman and et
al., 2018). There are various kinds of public health care programs that are directed to
disabled, aged, lower income population people. There are various kinds of other Medicaid
Health Insurance Program that provides healthcare coverage to health care of children.
14.) Example of a political impact on healthcare delivery which might result in
a constraint on services
Politics affect overall healthcare delivery in many different ways. It can give rise of
social inequalities in health. Some of the most common example of political impact on
healthcare delivery are: change in rules and regulations (Dixit and Sambasivan, 2018). Changes
in healthcare and patient related legislation. Changes in tax and tariff or expenses.
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15.) Current issues impacting on clinical practice and health policy
development
There are various kinds of current issues that are impacting clinical practises a d health
policy development (Chun Tie, Birks and Mills, 2018). Some of the most common issues
according to National Health Priority Areas (NHPAs) are as follows:
 Cancer control
 Cardiovascular health
 Injury prevention and control
 Mental health
 Diabetes mellitus
 Asthma
 Arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions
 Obesity
 Dementia
These are the current issues that are impacting clinical practice and health policy development in
Australia
16.) Ways in which Enrolled Nurses work to uphold Principles of Primary
Care and Wellness
Positivity is empowerment (principle of wellness)
It is one of the main principles of wellness that says that thinking positively can help in
provision of better health and wellness (Smart, Williams and Lyndon, 2016). This helps in
bringing improvement within patient’s overall health condition. This principle also helps in
bringing improvement mental state of patient, helps them to overcome depression, reduce pain
and promote their overall quality of life.
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17) A resident who is admitted in your aged care facility yesterday asked you
whether he can take his herbal (Ayurvedic) medicine which he usually
takes to overcome indigestion problems. The resident is prescribed with
new medications as per his medication chart. What is the best response in
this scenario?
Medication chart in a residential aged care is a kind of facility service that act as a
communication tool between doctors, pharma, nurses and other healthcare professionals related
to resident’s medicines. The best response to this scenario is to check whether the herbal
medicines taken by the resident is safe or its ingredients will reduce its effect of medicines
prescribed by the healthcare professions (Van den Broek and Groutsis, 2019). Them on the basis
of this analysis herbal medicines should be allowed to be taken. But first of all, resident should
be stopped from taking those herbal medicines in order to ensure effectivity of the treatment
which is being provided to them.
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REREFENCES
Books and Journals
Aitken, L., Marshall, A. and Chaboyer, W., 2016. ACCCN's Critical Care Nursing. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Amin, A., and et al., 2018. Ethics of Nursing in Australia: a Review. Ethics of Nursing in
Australia: a Review. 15(1). pp.4-4.
Berman, A., and et al., 2018. Kozier and Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing [4th Australian edition].
Birks, M., and et al., 2017. Uncovering degrees of workplace bullying: A comparison of
baccalaureate nursing students’ experiences during clinical placement in Australia and
the UK. Nurse education in practice. 25. pp.14-21.
Chun Tie, Y., Birks, M. and Mills, J., 2018. The experiences of internationally qualified
registered nurses working in the Australian healthcare system: An integrative literature
review. Journal of Transcultural Nursing. 29(3). pp.274-284.
Curtis, K., and et al., 2017. Translating research findings to clinical nursing practice. Journal of
clinical nursing. 26(5-6). pp.862-872.
Daly, J., Speedy, S. and Jackson, D., 2017. Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Elsevier Health
Sciences.
Dixit, S.K. and Sambasivan, M., 2018. A review of the Australian healthcare system: A policy
perspective. SAGE open medicine. 6. p.2050312118769211.
Hartin, P., Birks, M. and Lindsay, D., 2018. Bullying and the nursing profession in Australia: An
integrative review of the literature. Collegian. 25(6). pp.613-619.
Smart, N.A., Williams, A. and Lyndon, K., 2016. The role and scope of accredited exercise
physiologists in The Australian Healthcare System. Journal of Clinical Exercise
Physiology. 5(2). pp.16-20.
Van den Broek, D. and Groutsis, D., 2019. Women, Work and Migration: Nursing in Australia.
Routledge.
Wang, C.C., Whitehead, L. and Bayes, S., 2017. The real ‘cost’of study in Australia and the
ramifications for China, Australia, and the Chinese nursing students: what do these three
players want? A narrative review. Globalisation, Societies and Education. 15(5).
pp.590-606.
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