Strategic Decision Making in Health Case Study 2022

Running Head: Strategic Decision Making in Health
Strategic Decision Making in Health

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Overview of Health
Management............................................................................................................
.....3
Prevalence of Breast Cancer in Australia..................................................................4
Discussion of Australian Health Management............................................................5
Challenges of the Poor health management in Australia.................................................7
Responsibilities of Government............................................................................9
Recommendations for Improvement.......................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
The purpose of the health management system is the management of diseases through effective
use of various medical services in hospitals and health care centers. This study identifies the
problem of ‘Poor Management of Breast Cancer in Australia’ and analyzes the situation in terms
of four different factors: structural, human resource, political and symbolic.
Breast cancer is highly predominant in females in Australia. Out of 19535, new Breast cancer
cases detected in 2019, 19375 were females and 164 males. In Australia, breast cancer is the
second most prominently detected cancer after prostate cancer and fourth main reason for deaths.
The country has a mixed ethnic population. The patients residing at rural areas have 7% greater
mortality rate because of breast cancer than those living in urban locations. Moreover the
indigenous rural women living with cancer face multiple challenges.
Most of the healthcare services are funded by the government. The health management system of
Australia is complex in structure and controlled by the state governments, territory governments
as its stakeholders (Gonzalez-Chica et al., 2016).
Overview of health management
In Australia Breast Cancer is key cause for mortality and morbidity (Lobry de Bruyn &
Andrews, 2016). Government of Australia has identified Cancer care as its National Health
Priority Areas in addition to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and asthma (Homaira et al., 2019).
To control the breast cancer issues among Australians the government need to implement an
appropriate management system and increase public awareness about the disease. Government
should provide sufficient specialists, support services and allied health services to the cancer
patients in regional and rural areas equivalent to the urban populations. The healthcare
professionals need to be trained in effective communication strategies and culturally sensitive
manner to improve the trust, interpersonal relationship, compliance and the patient outcomes.
Prevalence of Breast Cancer in Australia
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Breast cancer is a disease of uncontrolled multiplication of malignant mammary cells. Breast
cancer is not a disease to be controlled by prevention. The focus should be on early screening
and detection.
The government has launched the national programs for breast cancer screening named “Breast
Screen Australia” for detecting breast cancer at early stage in Australians. The best way for early
detection of breast cancer in its early stage is through mammography screening and it should be
done every two years. Breast cancer detected at the early stages can be treated and the chances of
recovery of the patient are very high. As age is a key factor in occurrence of breast cancer, the
government has started the joint venture ‘Commonwealth-State Breast Screen Australia’
program to target the women aged 50-69 years (Phillips et al., 2016). In Australia, the mortality
rate of breast cancer affected patients is 19.1 per 100000 women among those aged 40-44 years,
63.9 per 100000 among those aged 50-69 years and 115.7 per 100000 among those aged 75-79
year (Clement, 2017).
Considerable amount of data is available about the breast cancer screening but treatment and
management of breast cancer is poor in Australia. Free diagnosis and screening is done by the
National Screening Programs like ‘BreastScreen’ Australia. After this, treatment and care is
provided by the public and private sector hospitals (Ho- Huynh et al., 2019).
Discussion of Australia Health management
Some problems faced by the Australian population in health management of breast cancer are-
1. Political
Though the Australian government takes the necessary steps to raise the awareness of breast
cancer among Australian people, the diverse cultural groups in Australia residing in distant rural
areas lack effective awareness about breast cancer. The ‘Breast-Screen Australia’ program is an
example of such an awareness program which helps in early detection and screening. The key
stakeholder Organizations working for Breast Cancer in Australia are: Breast Cancer Network
Australia, McGrath Foundation, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Cancer Australia etc
(Breast Cancer network Australia [BCNA], 2019). These organizations ensure that the patients
receive, care, support, treatment and information at right time. National Breast Cancer
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