Ineffectiveness of Preventive Measures in Australian Health System

This essay examines the ineffectiveness of preventive measures within the Australian health management system, despite Australia having one of the most enviable healthcare systems globally. It highlights that a significant portion of the disease burden could be averted by reducing modifiable risk factors. While early disease detection is efficient, disease prevention through risk factor avoidance is lacking due to limited investment and uncertainty about effective preventive measures. The complex, multi-provider healthcare system leads to inconsistent information flow and difficulties in accessing specialists. Public awareness of clinical risk factors is low, hindering effective prevention. Although Australians generally trust their healthcare system, communication gaps and limited patient engagement, particularly among Indigenous populations, pose challenges. The essay advocates for greater public education on risk factors, increased patient involvement, and improved access to medical records to enhance preventive health management and overall health outcomes.

Running Head: PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 1
The Ineffectiveness of Preventive Measures in Health Management.
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 2
Burden of disease analysis provides a scale for the gap between the verified health of a
population and an optimum level of health in a certain year. A survey by the Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare in 2016 certified that 0.31 of the burden of disease encountered by the
Australian population could be averted by decreasing contact with modifiable risk factors.
(Welfare, 2016).
Patient active engagement in the management of their health proves most effective in
managing the health of individuals. Increased awareness of risk factors in addition to
engagement of individuals with their health providers acts as an incentive to patients in avoiding
stated risk factors. Early detection of diseases in Australia has been one of the most efficient
methods of health management. However, a number of the diseases could be prevented through
behavioural change and avoidance of risk factors.
This paper focuses on patient engagement with health service providers to ameliorate
preventative health management.
The Australian health management system is considered one of the most enviable
globally (International Profiles of Health Care, 2015). In recent years there has been an increased
interest in preventative measures. This has led to the increased emphasis on early disease
detection. The framework for breast cancer management, for example, focuses on achieving a
balance between early detection of the disease and treatment (Commission, 2017). The ‘Breast
Screen Australia’ initiative which promotes breast cancer screening for early detection has led a
significant decrease in mortality rate as a result of the disease. This has proved to be the most
effective way to manage cancer as prevention measures have proved difficult for the disease.
However, this is not the case for other disease which can be managed by avoiding risk factors.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 3
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare identified a number of contributory
factors, included in the Australian Burden of Disease Study, which contributed to the most
disease burden as exposure to tobacco, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, physical
inactivity and high blood pressure. One of the diseases contributed by the risk factors is heart
disease which is the major cause of death for Australians of both sexes. All the risk factors
identified could be avoided through behavioural change particularly if individuals were not only
made aware of the risk factors but also constantly reminded to avoid them. Greater strides in the
management of health could be achieved if more emphasis is put on the prevention of disease.
While early disease detection by health providers is efficient, disease prevention through
the avoidance of risk factors is yet to be fully achieved. This stems mainly from limited
investment in terms of resources into preventative health (Australian Government Productivity
Commission, 2018). The limited funding is due to the uncertainty of the preventative measures
that really work and the hesitation by all stakeholders to invest in preventative health
management.
Australians are not connected to a single provider or group of healthcare providers
through registration, despite the fact that most believe that they have a regular one from whom
they receive services. (Hall, 2015).The Australian health care system comprises of numerous
health care providers. These include nutritionists, emergency medical teams of public hospitals,
specialists’ doctors and primary care physicians. The existence of numerous health providers is a
result of the coordination of health service provision between the various governments. The
state, territory and local governments in Australia render public sector health services (Welfare,
2016). A recent review concluded that “the complex split of government roles means no single
level of government has all the policy levers needed to ensure a cohesive health system and that

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 4
the people who suffer the most from the lack of coordination are patients with chronic and
complex conditions, such as diabetes, cancer and mental illness, who regularly move from one
health service to another” (Hall, 2015).
The constant change of health providers presents a challenge to effective health
provision. The existence of numerous providers dealing with a single individual leads to
irregularity in information flow. This, in turn, impedes the establishment of a complete data
source for a single individual.
Furthermore, patient access to medical providers particularly specialist doctors is often
difficult (Siciliani, Borowitz, & Moran, 2015). More often than not there exist long waiting lists
to access doctors who specialize in certain fields. The difficulty in accessing these specialists
makes it difficult for patients to take up preventive measures or enjoy the benefits of early
detection.
Hampered access to information and specialists results in patients being unaware of all
the risk factors they are prone to and, therefore, necessary precautions to avoid the risk factors
cannot be taken.
The ‘Heart Watch’ study survey established that only a limited number of the Australians
are aware of clinical risk factors for heart disease. Aggravating this is the fact that the awareness
level of clinical disease contributory factors in both those who had and had not received a
diagnosis for heart disease or diabetes, and those who had a heart attack or angina the last 5 years
were in the same range (Hoare, Straveski, Bronwyn, kingwell, & Jennings, 2017). The
Australian public is largely ignorant on risk factors which could have an impact on their health.
The lack of knowledge on the necessary steps to take to avoid future contraction of certain

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 5
disease particularly chronic illnesses hampers the effective establishment of prevention measures
as a means to improve health care management.
Patient engagement in disease prevention serves as the best way to manage disease. There
needs to be greater emphasis on public education of risk factors so as to encourage positive
behavioral change. A report on Australian’s perception of their health care system established
that Australians possess a great amount of confidence in the Australian health care. (Hardie &
Critchley, 2008). Generally, Australians have confidence in western traditional providers and has
no hesitation when it comes to seeking medical attention. This trust promotes professional self-
(Clark C. C., 2017) governance in the medical community. 1However, there is relatively low
trust in the health system with most people being suspicious of waiting times and the
implications of cost cutting (Calnan & Sanford, 2004).
A report by the Australian health ministers in 2011 identified a communication break
which results from limitation of the chances of interaction between patients, their families and
medical staff and not from lack of initiative. (Newell & Jordan., 2015)
Differences in the health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are still quite
significant. Research implies that Indigenous Australians engage in health risk behaviour more
often than the non-Indigenous persons, and that such behaviour has a significant effect on health
results. (Waterworth, Pescud, Braham, Dimmock, & Rosenberg, 2015)
Generally the indigenous people have limited access to education hence lower level of
health literacy. This hinders their ability to participate in individual self-regulation of health and
makes them prone to risk factors.
More often than not finances for the health industry are limited. Upon receipt of the
finances in the industry the funds must be divided between administrative purposes and patient

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 6
care. (Australian Government Productivity Commission, 2018). Limited funds are set aside for
health management. Preventative measures are more often than not given limited finances as
there is limited information on the most effective preventative measures. Furthermore, it has
proved difficult to quantify the effectiveness of preventive measures.
There has been an increase in conduction and participation of breast cancer screening in
Australia. Wider recognition of breast cancer as the main cause of death of Australian women is
a display of how well cancer awareness campaigns have been conducted and this should be
applauded (Hoare, Straveski, Bronwyn, kingwell, & Jennings, 2017). However, the same
awareness has not been conducted for other diseases.
Heart disease as the main contributor of death of Australian men and women is not well
understood. The first appearance of heart disease usually occurs when one is elderly but risk
factors that make one susceptible to the condition are commonly present long before this. Public
health and prevention measures are only effective if awareness is created early.
Public education and mass campaigns have failed to draw attention to a number of risk
factors that are likely to impact the future health of individuals. In 2012; health expectancy levels
in both women and men was 10year(s) lower than the overall life expectancy at birth. (WHO,
2018).
Regulatory complexity is another major problem in Australia’s health care system.
Numerous procedures that are unnecessarily complicated for health providers and users alike,
meaning a large portion of time and money is spent going through regulatory procedures instead
of providing health care. (Australia, 2014). In areas such as the registration of a medical provider
trained outside Australia, the long and tedious process often discourages the provider in question.
The power dynamics in medical centers also affects patient perception of medical staff. It
is common for general practitioners to treat nurses as inferior staff and expect them to engage

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 7
only in task which they are specifically instructed to perform. (While & Webley-Brown, 2016).
The perception of the inferior position of nurses is created which influences patient attitude
towards nurses in general. It becomes more unlikely for patients to consult nurses when faced
with and challenge even if the general practitioner is unavailable.
There is a strong belief in the treatment of certain disease as opposed to taking
preventative measures. The relation of causative agents, as antecedents, to disease needs to be
emphasised, instead of the promotion of the idea that high blood pressure and cholesterol being a
final, treatable, outcome. (Hoare, Straveski, Bronwyn, kingwell, & Jennings, 2017).
Prevention is better than cure. Exposure to risk factors that can be inhibits the
actualization of preventative measures.
Many Australians including health administrators hold to be true the myth that the role of
nurses in hospitals is subservient. This poses a challenge in both the political and symbolic frame
of reference. (Ogle & Glass, 2014). This perception creates the idea that nurses lack the
necessary information to deal with patient concerns. Nurses are, therefore, not sought out for
help regarding patient concerns despite the fact that they have greater contact with patients and
are more readily available as they make up the majority of hospital staff.
Furthermore, most health providers have shown a hesitation to step away from the
traditional culture of record keeping where all patient records were maintained by the providers.
(Tierney, et al., 2015). Patient access to their medical records would increase patient knowledge
on the state of their health and act as a motivation to take better steps to improve their health
especially where medical records are maintained electronically and are update in real time to
reflect the current conditions of the patients.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 8
The lack of patient engagement in the monitoring of their health has contributed to
morbidity in Australia and has lowered the life expectancy.
To enhance the health care system it is necessary to bring the public into the frontline of
management. There needs to be greater engagement of patients suffering with chronic illnesses
in the management of their illness. The idea “patients as partners” has become a reality in the last
four years, especially at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal (UM) where the
training of medical students includes instruction from some patients. (Pomey, Ghadiri,
Karazivan, Fernandez, & Clavel, 2015). Also, patients are to be fully educated on their illness
and informed on strategies to help cope with their illness in their daily life. Self-regulation may
be especially essential for illnesses such as asthma where there is no defined method for ideal
management and patients and their families have to undertake decision making with regard to the
situation at hand, usually without a health professionals. (Clark, Gong, & Kaciroti, 2014)
Doctors particularly general practitioners need to adopt total care management of their
patients. This involves going further than treating the illness of the patient and discovering the
underlying cause and informing the patient of all risk factors that they are likely to be susceptible
to and the best lifestyle changes.
The key stakeholders of the health industry should undertake public campaigns on a large scale
to inform the public not only on the disease that cause the highest death rate among the burden of
disease needs to be made available in the simplest of forms to ensure the general public
understands it. Furthermore, groups identified as prone to certain disease ought to receive
specialized training on the steps they can take to avoid contracting the disease.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 9
Public education and mass campaigns should include education on the role of various medical
providers particularly those of nurses whose role is often misconstrued. This will enable
Australians to know from who they ought to seek information.
Finally, there needs to be system synchronization at all levels of government to allow for
the effective management of health in Australia. This can most easily be achieved by the use of
electronic health records as this ensures that patient information is freely available to all persons
handling the patient. However, this poses the challenge of confidentiality.
Patients can help improve on the records through the use of health care tracking sources.
These enable access to current patient information electronically. (Noblin & Rutherford,
2017).Use of Electronic Health Records could further alleviate the problem of information flow
particularly if control of access to records is granted by the patient. This would enable the patient
to share information with any health provider whose services they sought out.
The attainment of national and international health targets will remain a distant dream
until the Australian public is engaged in health management. (Hoare, Stavreski, Kingwell, &
Jennings, 2017).

PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT 10
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