Position Statement for Healthcare in Australia

This document discusses the healthcare system in Australia and its importance in providing improved quality of life for the community. It explores the factors affecting the healthcare workforce and the need for cultural safety in healthcare settings. The document also highlights the role of nurses and midwives in maintaining cultural safety and equity in practice.

Part 1 Assessment
Position statement for healthcare in Australia
The healthcare system in Australia is entirely based on the knowledge, skills, attitude,
professionalism and improved quality of life for the community. Australia being a multi-
cultural society enjoys the healthcare workforce with different background, culture, religion,
ethnicity and language. Overall the workforce is estimated to contain 700, 000 healthcare
workers who are registered and employed in more than 13 professions such as health
practitioners, managers, administration, staff support and those who volunteer the patients
(Bhatt and Bathija, 2018). A sufficient supply of healthcare workforce is essential t provide
improved healthcare to the people and to fulfil the needs of the consumer,, in particular, the
patients and their family members. However the World Health Organization has strictly
specified that there will be global shortage in healthcare workforce, however the reason
remains unclear. Consequently, there is awareness about planning and appropriate funding
for the healthcare workforce. This demand in healthcare workforce may be due to an
increased life expectancy and ageing population which secures the future of this workforce in
terms of providing care to elderly with chronic diseases (Martin et al., 2017). Also there is a
considerable shortage of workforce in the regional and resource limited areas. Nevertheless,
there exists a gradual decrease in the working hours and it is evident from the report of
Commonwealth Department of Health modelling where it was revealed that within the next
20 years there would be reduction of 123000 nurses.
The factors affecting health workforce are the health policies, arrangement of funds to
disabled and aged care, policies in education and immigration. However the strategy for
national healthcare workforce includes adequacy, distribution of workforce and equality in
addition to cross-jurisdictional approach and value based changes (Laverty et al., 2017). Also
it is important to have coordination in education and prolonged sustainability. The models for

the workforce must ensure balance in general and special skills via primary care and inter-
disciplinary teams should focus on caring the well-being of the patient. Furthermore equal
access and healthcare outcomes, conducting programs that involve aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander. In addition proper education and training should be prepared with increased
emphasis on re-entry and retention of healthcare workforce. Also it is essential to provide
interpreters for foreign languages in order to improve communication with patients who face
difficulty in speaking or understanding English. However there is scarcity for interpreters for
foreign languages. Most importantly changes to visa conditions and relaxation in the
government rules is essential to bring in healthcare workforce from other countries in order to
fill the positions in the regional and rural areas of the country (Rodney, 2016). In addition
proper education for the healthcare worker is mandatory to ensure safety for the patients and
their team members. All the aforementioned factors provide data on the importance of
healthcare workforce and the service provided by them to the people.
Part 2 Assessment
Introduction
It has been determined that the factors such as exerting influence in making decisions, power
and expert about policies in healthcare systems should be on debate. The issues are about the
authority in maintaining the relationships between the nurses and medical practitioners within
the healthcare settings. Conventionally providers of healthcare have focused on appropriate
care for the patients (Bhatt and Bathija, 2018). Furthermore healthcare facilities work on
providing culturally safe environment. Since the past two decades there has been many
concerns regarding provision of clinical care, patient recognition, legal entitlements and
rights, ethical issues of the patients, and providing equal care to all groups. Australia being a
country, the healthcare workforce may belong to diverse culture, tradition, language, religion,

background and ethnicity, it is essential to maintain cultural safety (Laverty et al., 2017). All
leaders and professionals of healthcare have a significant role in providing a safer workplace.
Nurses and midwives are the largest workforce in the healthcare system. Nevertheless
discussion on cultural safety and equity in practice is not a naïve concept. The workforce has
to understand their role in building rapport with people belonging to all groups in a culturally
safe, secure and respectful manner. Furthermore, they should foster honest and show empathy
towards the concerns of the patients and their family members and strictly abide by the rules
on privacy and confidentiality (Martin et al., 2017). Cultural safety mainly deals with nurse
or midwife who provides utmost care based on their self-assumptions and cultural belief and
work in coherence with an individual from different background.
They always possess the responsibility to offer care thereby contributing to deliver the best
outcome for the patient or individual they care for. Also, they ought to work with that
individual in good partnership. The New Code of Conduct for Nurses and Midwives deals
about the principle of safe culture and offers guidance on basic knowledge regarding the
ethics to work in partnership with team members as well as indigenous people. In addition the
code mentions that they do not need to declare for white privilege (Phiri et al., 2010). These
codes were formulated via evidence based approach and consultation that was processed for a
period of over 24 months. The evidence based approaches included review from various
literatures that we solely based on national and international evidence on cultural safety and
evaluation of various complaints regarding the code of conduct of nurses and midwives to
fulfil the needs of the public (Rodney, 2016).
Australia is specifically interested in considering cultural safety as a model for developing
relationships in care towards the health of indigenous people. Additionally, Australia is
considered one of the developed countries in showering importance to health of the
communities. It relies on international theory based on the theory of multi-culturalism and

practicing effective nursing standards. However the ethnic dominance of white privilege in
nursing exerts a negative effect on the healthcare system for vulnerable groups in the country.
Moreover it is one of the major issues which are hardly addressed. Another main reason is
that the healthcare workforce has to reflect themselves while showing empathy towards the
patient. Nevertheless, there is responsibility for policy makers to guide the healthcare
workforce to meet the specified standards in the work place and in individual practice.
Rationale
The concept of safety in culture that was derived from awareness and sensitivity was
integrated via education for nurses thereby focussing on the uniqueness of a person and the
will to acknowledge that each individual has their own identity in culture. This involves
recognition of influences in culture however it is not limited only to ethnicity, gender, age,
sexual orientation and beliefs and personal values. It has resulted in a critical knowledge
about the actions of the workforce (Leape et al., 2009). Adoption of cultural safety by nurses
and midwives in the healthcare settings builds rapport with the medical practitioner. It does
not allow disparities in power and decision making. The healthcare workforce has to
understand the implication of cultural awareness and sensitivity to address issues in cultural
safety.
The awareness in culture deals with acknowledging the legitimate differences in personal
attitudes to confirm that they do not have any adverse effects on people with varied
background. This can be achieved when the nurses acknowledge that they are responsible for
the assessment and providing response to cultural expectation of women thereby utilised
while the care is being planned. One of studies conducted by Dowd et al. (2005) state that
despite cultural safety is an extended version of cultural awareness and sensitivity; they may
not ensure cultural safety to nurses. Cultural safety is based on adhering to basic rights of the
human in terms of respect, safety, dignity and autonomy. The term cultural safety denotes

effective nursing provided to an individual with different culture. Cultural safety was
introduced in nursing in 1990’s and it is one of the main criteria for registration as nurse in
Australia and New Zealand (Phiri et al., 2010).
Communication of nurses with medical practitioners is essential for effective dosage regimen
and therapy for the patients. The nature of disease as advised by the practitioners should be
conveyed to the patient by a nurse (Kourkouta and Papathanasiou, 2014). Effective
communication denotes a clear understanding of the concerns of the patient and showing
empathy. With regards to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, the safety of
culture offers a model for decolonisation that purely relies on communication, dialogue,
sharing of power and undergoing negotiations (Wilson et al., 2016). Such actions will
effectively address the challenges of racism and to develop trustworthy in healthcare
facilities. In addition communication leads to a genuine partnership by sharing between the
cultural groups within the healthcare settings (Jennings et al., 2018).
Literacy on health deals about the understanding of health and the healthcare system by an
individual and how it is implied and benefitted in their life and empower in decision making.
People and nurses or midwives with less literacy and knowledge on health are more prone to
misinterpret instructions and utilise the advantages of healthcare system. However several
efforts in each facility would have been taken to develop a plain and clear language, in
addition to nurse-nurse and patient friendly education. The relationship between health
literacy and communication is essential as it can improvise the care and patient outcome with
limited literacy (Bhatt and Bathija, 2018). Consequently, improved materials for education,
easy and clear forms to fill, training of staffs for effective communication and reinforcement
are required. Furthermore, it is vital to curate and promote tools for evidence based health
literacy and communication and the need for nursing research (Martin et al., 2017).
Conclusion

In Australia, there exists an opportunity to develop the health and cultural safety in order to
provide quality health care for the patients and communities. Despite immense research on
health literacy there is a gap in understanding of the term or overlapping of the concept have
exerted challenges to the people on how to link the concepts of health literacy and
communication thereby finding difficulty in drawing conclusions about addressing the issues.
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