Indigenous People Participation in Health Workforce a Reflective Essay

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Indigenous People Participation in Health Workforce a Reflective Essay
Introduction
The following essay is my reflection on participation of Indigenous Australians in health
workforce. This will involve my reflection and group members’ response on enhancing
participation of First People of Australia in health care workforce as done in a group work. The
second section of the essay will involve reflecting on the group that I was part of when learning
about indigenous Australians and their participation in health care workforce. The reflection will
use Gibb’s model of refection to discuss what I learnt, felt, and how I am going to incorporate
what I have learnt in my professional practice.
The indigenous people of Australia form the minority population in Australia. The dominant
population (non-indigenous Australian) has in the past and continues to dominant the indigenous
people of Australia in term of culture, viewpoint, and opportunities. Indigenous people refer to
people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders tribes who occupied Australia before it was
colonized. The indigenous people have been subjected to colonization that adversely affected
their interactions with other dominant culture, perceptions, and willingness to work in health
organizations (Adams et al., 2016). The indigenous Australians became negative about the
mainstream health system that has led to few individuals pursuing careers in health. This under-
representation has led to the government and non government to strategize and improve
indigenous people ratio in the health workforce.
The group comprised members from my class. The group had 5 members who had different roles
that contributed to the success of the task. Generally, the members were cooperative, focused,
and willing to contribute. This enabled exploration of the topic and enhanced our understanding
of the underlying concepts and how they can be applied in professional practice.
Part A
The New South Wales Government (NSW) has a policy that seeks to enhance indigenous
Australians to participating in health care workforce. The NSW government proposes and

enforces policies that attract and recruit Aboriginal workforce. The NSW Health Good health-
Great Jobs: Aboriginal Workforce Strategic Framework 2016-2020 policy aim to support
Specialty Health Networks, Local health Districts and other Heath organizations in NSW in
growing and developing their Aboriginal workforce (Wong, et al., 2017). This policy aligns with
previous framework of Respecting the Difference: An Aboriginal Cultural Training framework
for NSW Health structure. The important principles to enhancing participation of Indigenous
people in the Australian health care is implementing Respecting, Engaging and Sharing, and
Moving Forward (REM) Principles. This REM Framework enables cultural understanding and
respect, recruiting and retaining of Aboriginal staff and developing of Aboriginal staff capacity
by health organizations (Power et al., 2016). This REM Framework will therefore result to
increased number of Indigenous employees in the health care organizations.
After undertaking the study, I felt a relief that is a framework to solve the disparity between
indigenous and Non-Indigenous health care workforce. I was nervous that there might be no
lasting solution or the government was not making any effort to attract, recruit, or retain
indigenous health professionals. The anxiety changed after learning about the REM Framework
and the policies that by the NSW government to increase number of Aboriginals workforce in
health organizations. In general, the group members were happy to know and establish that the
government policy of NSW Health Good Health- Great Jobs is effective and will enhance
indigenous people participation in the health care workforce.
I gained several concepts from the study on indigenous people in relation to health care
workforce. I was able to understand underlying principles to the policies that the government
was implementing of 1.8% of workforce being indigenous workforce in every health
organization (HealthInfoNet, 2016). I understood the concept of establishing or promoting
cultural understanding and respect among the indigenous communities. According to Certo
(2018), culturally sensitive organizations provide accommodating working environment that
encourage employees to retain their positions. Therefore the indigenous people can retain their
jobs in health care organization if they are culturally sensitive to them. The group members
acknowledged there is a difference in culture between indigenous and non-indigenous
Australians and that indigenous people culture should be respected. The group appreciated the
government efforts enhance Aboriginal health workforce in NSW.