CNA151: Reflection on Australian Healthcare Experience Report

This report reflects on a personal experience with the Australian healthcare system following a cardiac event experienced by the author's grandfather. The report begins by highlighting the positive aspects of the emergency response, including the rapid arrival of paramedics and immediate treatment at the hospital, which aligns with the biomedical model of health. The author then contrasts this with the social model of health, emphasizing the importance of social and psychological factors contributing to the grandfather's condition, such as social isolation and stress. The report further discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both models, with the biomedical model being effective for emergency situations and the social model focusing on prevention. The author then outlines primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention initiatives relevant to the experience, including lifestyle changes and government programs. Finally, the report concludes by summarizing the experience and the importance of both biomedical and social models in healthcare, as well as the significance of preventative measures. The report uses the assignment brief to structure the analysis.

HealthCare: Australia
Student’s Details

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Healthcare: Australia
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Healthcare experience......................................................................................................................1
The biomedical model of health...................................................................................................1
Social health model......................................................................................................................2
Prevention initiatives.......................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................4

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Healthcare: Australia
Introduction
Healthcare System of Australia is second best healthcare system in the world after the United
Kingdom. There are various factors to determine the ranking and quality of the healthcare system
of the country. To determine the quality of the system preventives, safety, coordination in care,
engagement of healthcare providers towards patient-centric services, affordability, accessibility,
equity, administrative efficiency, and healthcare outcomes are major factors (WPR, 2020). This
discussion covers my personal experiences with the health care system of the country.
Healthcare experience
Because of an ischemic cardiac attack, I had to take the emergency services of the Australian
healthcare system for my grandfather. Because it was an emergency service, hence I had to seek
a biomedical health model of the healthcare services for my grandfather. In a sudden cardiac
attack to my grandfather, I called on 000 and I had received medical emergency services in a
very short duration. With the ambulance vehicle, there were some trained nurses to provide first
aid such as CPR until we reached the hospital (Health direct, 2020). As soon as we reached the
hospital attentive staff including specialist doctors and nurses was there to attend and to start
treatment immediately to save my grandfather’s life. Thus, I had a good attending and responsive
experience with the healthcare system of the country, yet it was expensive and seen that there
were a lack preventive actions. Thus, I perceived that the biomedical model has both advantages
and disadvantages.
The biomedical model of health
The biomedical model of health includes the understanding of the normal and abnormal function
of the human biologic system and genes to give preventive and treatment intervention in diseases
(Farre & Rapley, 2017). The biomedical health model helps to explain cardiac illness causes and

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Healthcare: Australia
primary symptoms. It also diagnoses the actual level of illness and through the treatment
methods, it provides relieves from symptoms such as chest pain and blocked blood circulation.
With the advance treatment methods, this model increases the life expectancy of people
(Taukeni, 2019). As my grandfather diagnosed a blockage in blood vessels, placing implants in a
blood vessel was lifesaving (Bussooa et al., 2008). But the major weakness of the biomedical
model of health is it does not consider social and psychological factors for the cardiac illness of
my grandfather. Besides, there is less focus on the prevention of the illness in the biomedical
health model. Yet for the emergency services, the medical health model is best as per my
experiences.
Social health model
The social model comprises various social factors such as culture, self-esteem, stress, political
and social factors have a significant impact on an individual's health. The social model of health
attempts to address these aspects and their impacts on health. It also seeks prevention of diseases
through focusing on health promotions, polices and educations. But the social model has a
significant lack of emergency response. It is depending on the medical health model on most of
the treatments. The social model also does not include and address all causes of illness thus
many diseases and illnesses are untouched by the social model. Even though the major focus of
the social model is the prevention of illness however it cannot prevent all diseases (Goering,
2015). In my perception social and cultural aspects were major factors for the illness of my
grandfather. As he was living alone from the past some years, social isolation built a lack of self-
esteem and increased stress which led up in this chronic illness (Carvalho & Bertolli, 2016).

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Prevention initiatives
At the primary level by improving lifestyle such as avoid smoking, good nutrition, increasing
physical activities and avoiding high cholesterol will be helpful for me to prevent cardio
diseases. At the secondary stage, disease prevention is staying alert. I can diagnose the symptoms
of heart disease by breath shortness and high bold pressure and take required steps towards the
prevention of chronic illness. Now my grandfather has chronic heart disease, he is at risk for
reoccurrence of the illness. However by improving the lifestyle such as enhancing diet, including
physical exercising, avoiding smoking and stress he can reduce the symptoms and risk factors of
existing disease (Health link bc, 2020), (AIHW, 2009).
The government of Australia is also taking various initiatives at primary, secondary and territory
levels to prevent diseases and improve the healthcare system of the country. Immunization in
children and pregnant women, healthy lifestyle programs, anti-smoking campaigns, improving
nutritional intake, working to improve physical activity and executing health education programs
are major factors towards the prevention of diseases (ACSQHC, 2018).
Conclusion
I had an experience with the Australian healthcare system due to the cardiac illness of my
grandfather. I found that despite some minor loops the system is good. The biomedical model is
very helpful in emergency and chronic illness yet the social health model works towards the
prevention of disease. Whereas, the government of the country also taking many initiatives
towards the prevention of diseases.

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Bibliography
ACSQHC, 2018. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Sydney:
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Australian Commission on Safety
and Quality in Health Care.
https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/National-Safety-and-Quality-
Health-Service-Standards-second-edition.pdf.
AIHW, 2009. Prevention of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease:
targeting risk factors. Canberra: PHE Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/heart-stroke-vascular-diseases/prevention-cardiovascular-
diabetes-chronic-kidney/contents/table-of-contents.
Bussooa, A., Neale, S. & Mercer, R..J., 2008. Future of Smart Cardiovascular Implants. Sensors,
18(7). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6068883/.
Carvalho, G.I. & Bertolli, d.S.E., 2016. Anxiety, depression, resilience and self-esteem in
individuals with cardiovascular disease. Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem, 24, pp.1-10.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5172617/.
Farre, A. & Rapley, T., 2017. The New Old (and Old New) Medical Model: Four Decades
Navigating the Biomedical and Psychosocial Understandings of Health and Illness.
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 5(4), pp.2-9.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5746722/.
Goering, S., 2015. Rethinking disability: the social model of disability and chronic disease.
Current reviews in Musculoskeletal, 8(2), pp.134-38. https://sci-hub.tw/10.1007/s12178-015-
9273-z.
Health direct, 2020. Calling triple zero (000). [Online] Available at:
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/calling-triple-zero [Accessed 29 February 2020].
Health link bc, 2020. Tertiary Prevention. [Online] Available at:
https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/physical-activity/tertiary-prevention [Accessed 24 February 2020].

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Taukeni, G.S., 2019. Introductory Chapter: Bio-Psychosocial Model of Health. Psychology of
Health - Biopsychosocial Approach, pp.1-8.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331952528_Introductory_Chapter_Bio-
Psychosocial_Model_of_Health.
WPR, 2020. Best Healthcare In The World 2020. [Online] Available at:
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/best-healthcare-in-the-world/ [Accessed 29
February 2020].