Healthcare System in Australia: Questions and Answers

This document presents a comprehensive set of answers to questions regarding the Australian healthcare system. It begins by differentiating between the social and biomedical models of health, then discusses the role of NSQHS Standards in quality assurance. The analysis covers the multifaceted nature of the Australian healthcare system, including its public and private sectors, workforce composition, and historical evolution of nursing. Key topics include primary healthcare, holistic and health-illness continuum models, regulatory bodies (NMBA, ANMF, AHPRA), and major restructuring efforts. The document also highlights strengths and weaknesses of the system, addresses health issues faced by immigrant populations and Indigenous Australians, and explores the roles of various healthcare professionals, environmental and cultural factors. The assignment concludes with examples of healthcare environments for enrolled nurses and the importance of interdisciplinary teams.

Running head: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Name of the student:
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1.1Social model of health states that the health is influenced by variety of factors like
interpersonal, individual, organizational, environmental, social and economic factors. These
factors are interrelated and determine the deeper health understanding focusing on the anatomy,
physiology and biology of the health. Health can be fully understood in a way where there is
exploration of interactions and influences that define human experiences and interrelationship
between body, mind and soul (Mcqueen and De Salazar, 2011)
1.2Biomedical model of health focuses on the physical and biological factors of illness and
disease. It is associated with the diagnosis, treatment and cure of the disease. It completely
ignores the social, psychological aspects of an illness that might affect an individual. It ignores
the concept of prevention and focuses on diagnosis and treatment of the disease (Deacon &
McKay, 2015).
2. The aim of NSQHS Standards provide an explicit framework for quality standards and aimed
at congruence level identification between the best practices and quality standards. These
standards help the organization leaders to implement clinical governance in their systems for
setting, monitoring and improving the performance of the organization along with quality and
reliability of patient care and improve patient outcomes. It is also utilized by the organization to
develop effective communication in patient experience and in the maintenance of quality
management in the organization’s workforce and use of governance systems by the members
(www.safetyandquality.gov.au, 2017).
3.Overall healthcare system of Australia is multifaceted and provides variety of private and
public healthcare providers and regulatory mechanisms. The coordination, governance,
regulation of the healthcare services in Australia is complex and there is joint responsibilities

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
between the different government levels. The planning and delivery of the healthcare services are
shared between public and private sectors. According to Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (AIHW) 2013-14, the two-thirds of the health spending comes from Australian
Government and it tends to increase steadily with progressing time. The healthcare workforce is
diverse and large comprising of highly qualified healthcare professionals, nurses, midwives
being the largest group, medical practitioners and makes up the largest profession in Australia
(www.aihw.gov.au, 2017).
4. The nursing in Australia evolved during the late 1800s when South Australian nurses took a
formal decision to support their role and improve the nursing education standards
(www.anmfsa.org.au, 2017). From there, the Royal British Nurses Association (SA Branch) and
Australasian Trained Nurses Association (ATNA) in New South Wales was established in 1899.
In 1905, Kate Hill, a highly dedicated nurse supported and there was creation of South
Australian branch of ATNA. Finally, in 1920, Nurses Registration Act came into existence and a
federal body was established in South Australia for the registration, training and exams of the
nurses in the state. In 1937 and 1939, the board received recognition and went into recess during
the Second World War. Today, this organization acts as the industrial and professional
organization comprising of 18,000 nurses with incorporation of Australian Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia.
5. Nursing profession comprise of the active nurses who are the layers in the competitive and
demanding labour market making up the maximum workforce in the healthcare system. The
perspective of nursing has changed over the years, as there is advancement in science and
research that have an impact on clinical practice and nursing education. There are new ways of
looking into this profession and refinement of the traditional methods; health, person,

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
environment and nursing. There is an evolving pattern of intelligence that promise nursing
through advancement of scientific knowledge and inquiry into nursing practice (Yoder-Wise,
2011).
6. The primary healthcare is the first care level for the consumers that are provided outside the
hospital setting. In this, there is community control over the health promotion, health service,
disease prevention and accessible to acceptable and affordable technology. There is client
education for the understanding of disease prevention and health promotion. Primary health
services not only encompass nursing and medical health professionals, but also comprises of
educators and community health workers.
7.1 Holistic model not only focus on the specific parts of the body or illness, it encompasses the
whole person and its interaction with the environment. It constitutes the connection of body,
mind and soul. For the maximum achievement of well-being, this model is used that include
well-being and functioning of the individual. Therefore, within the holistic model, people accept
the responsibility for their own health and well-being and make lifestyle choices to take charge
of their own
7.2 The Health-illness continuum model explains that a person’s experiences through the various
stages of illness and health fluctuate throughout their life. Health is a continual change where the
body adapts itself to the changes during illness and try to maintain well-being and health. This
effective functioning and adaptation is a part of well-being and getting acclimatised to the illness
changes to main good health.
8. NMBA is a board that regulates the policies and professional advices for the nurses and
midwives in Australia that support their professional nursing practice and meet the standards that

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
guide their professional practice. It provides the framework for the regulatory, ethical and legal
considerations in the context of nursing practice and profession (Bryce, Foley & Reeves, 2017).
ANMF is a board that help in the advancement of political, industrial and professional aspects of
the nursing profession for the nurses, assistants and midwifes. It is a federal union for the nurses,
midwives and healthcare professionals in the context of nursing profession.
AHPRA is a body governed by the healthcare professionals to regulate the national legislation
under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for regulating the healthcare
professions.
ANMAC is a board that protects the Australian community by ensuring their health and safety. It
establishes high-quality standards for the nursing and midwives in education, training and
clinical assessment.
9. There have been major restructuring in the Australian healthcare system in the last 30 years
where it is working to provide the best quality of care to people by major reforms. Its main focus
is to fight the ongoing issues like combating of AIDS spread and non-communicable diseases
and provide equity of healthcare services in the wider Australian community.
10. Strengths- 1.Australian healthcare system has introduced the Medicare tax facility insurance
program for the patients, their families, physicians and prescription costs in making it free for
them.
2. It has also enabled the targeting of the marginalized groups like Aboriginals (Indigenous)
population, homeless and refugee groups.

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Weaknesses- 1.There is long waiting list for the medical procedures at the hospital to get a
scheduled appointment.
2.There is difficulty in maintaining the healthcare workforce and its distribution across Australia.
There are also concerns regarding quality and safety of health care.
11. 1) Immigrant children face immunization problems as they are not vaccinated regarding the
major diseases like Hepatitis B, Mumps-Measles-Rubella (MMR), Polio and others.
2) The immigrants group of people converges from the native population as they report cases of
chronic diseases like diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory disease.
3) The asylum seekers and refugee people seeking help in Australia suffer from mental health
problems due to prolonged detention. They face issues of health and identity that makes ttme
prone to depression.
12.1 PHA- The role is to aid the Australians to choose better healthcare facilities and put their
healthcare needs at priority. It promotes health insurance and work in collaboration with agencies
and departments of Australian Government to provide information on policies that is associated
with voluntary health insurance.
12.2 Centrelink- It is the delivery point for services and payments that are available to the
Australian families where parents can lodge their claims regarding Parental leave pay (PLP) .
Centrelink determines the parents’ eligibility for PLP and provide funding amounts to the
employers so that they give PLP to their employees.
13.1 Aboriginals and TSI population face chronic health diseases like cardiovascular diseases
and in June 2014, around 713,000 Indigenous Australians suffer from heart diseases. It is mostly

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
prevalent among Indigenous people dwelling in remote areas with 45% as compared to non-
remote areas. One in three Aboriginals is likely to have cardiovascular disease that is 1.3 time as
compared to other populations. On an average, more than twice Aboriginals and TSI die from
heart attack in hospitals. They are more likely to smoke, be obese, have high blood pressure and
have acute rheumatic fever.
13.2 Aboriginals suffer from high levels of diabetes and likely to have diabetes three times more
than non-indigenous Australians. The prevalence rate is high as 33% as compared to other
populations. In 2012, 2013, there were around 9% to 11% diabetic cases including type 1 and
type 2 diabetes and estimated to have three times more as compared to non-indigenous
population.
14. The healthcare delivery for the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia is not
worthy. They still suffer burden of disease and ill health from the rest of the population. They
experience low levels of healthcare services accessibility as compared to general population.
They experience disability, hospitalized for illness and diseases and increased mortality at
younger ages. Overall, apart from disease burden, they suffer from emotional distress and mental
illness in the context of wider Australian community (Couzos & Thiele, 2016).
15. Three examples of healthcare environments where enrolled nurses can work in Australia
are the collaborative environment where all the healthcare professionals of different ranks can
work in association with each other being free for any power struggles. Another environment is
the multiculturism where professionals of all backgrounds irrespective of caste, creed and
religion can work progressively (MacDonald et al., 2016). The third is the supportive

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
environment where the nurses would be supported by the organization is maintaining a safe,
ethical and legal practice.
16. The important roles of interdisciplinary teams are providing a comprehensive treatment
to the patients facilitated by planning, meetings, patient care conferences, good documentation
and also willingness to go out of the way to make sure that proper communication takes place
(NanCarrow et al., 2013). Another roles it to maintain a collaborative approach by showing
mutual respect among disciplines , knowing one’s limit, teaching each other, recognizing each
other’s areas of expertise and to work with the desire of recognition of common goal.
17.1. Physiotherapist helps the patients when they have physical difficulties that result from
injury, illness, disability as well as die to aging. They help in development of movements of
body parts and hence in locomotion (Thompson, Yoward & Dawson, 2017).
17.2. A dietician will thoroughly assess the patient’s present condition, body weight,
medications provides and other important aspects and then develop a diet chart which will help
the patient to get back into quality lives. They are mainly the regulated healthcare professionals
who are licensed to assess diagnose and hence treat nutritional problems (Thomas, Erdman &
Burke, 2016).
18.1. Environment surrounding an individual is very important. A good living condition which
is hygienic, airy and full of sunlight keeps away germs and hence diseases. Parks and greenery
helps to keep one healthy and make him feel fresh. Pollution affects health leading to different
disorders.
18.2. Cultural barriers often hamper patients getting best services as they may face biasness
form healthcare professionals. On the other hand, professionals may also face issues as many

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patients want them to conduct their treatment without harming their cultural preferences. These
prevent them from getting best treatments.
18.3. Community acceptance is very important for a person to develop social attachments
which is very necessary for experiencing mental and emotional peace. Often Australian
communities do not accept immigrants or refugees and make them socially excluded. These
harm their mental and physical health as well.
19. An example of political impact can be seen where the eminent leaders may restrict
funding on certain diseases. If they restrict funding on palliative care or treatment of old people
stating that more fund should be allocated for cancer or other researches, it might hamper the
quality of care provided to the patients by nursing professionals.
20. A proper funding provided to the healthcare organizations will help them to possess all
resources which will be required by patients for uninterrupted service to them. Proper
instruments and technology, maintenance of hygiene and many others will be maintained.
A proper funding will help the organizations to appoint highly educated and experienced
healthcare professionals who will provide best care to patients.
21. The 9 important critical issues that are addressed by the national health priority areas are
the cancer control, cardiovascular health, injury prevention, mental health, diabetes mellitus,
asthma, arthritis and muscoskeletal conditions, obesity as well as dementia. These were mainly
established in response to the WHO global strategy Health for all by the year 2000. It took place
due to collaboration between Commonwealth and State and Territory governments, non-

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government organizations, health experts, clinicians and consumers (National Health Priority
Areas (AIHW), 2017)
22.1. Higher income and social status helps to gain better education for which individuals tends
to understand the effect of living a proper life with hygiene maintenance, proper diets, good
lifestyles and others. Moreover, they can afford better quality food and living conditions which
automatically reduces the chance of occurrence of disorders in such individuals (Breilh, 2017).
22.2. Low education levels make an individual illiterate and he cannot follow proper ways to
maintain hygiene, good diet and proper maintenance of physiological systems. This as a result
may result in poor physical and mental issues.
22.3. With the help of better the social support networks, the patients gain power to overcome
different barriers. With better social support networks, individuals can gain access to different
lifestyle management systems and hence, chances of getting physically or mentally ill becomes
reduced. Support from family and society always acts as a best power and develops the zeal in an
individual to live happily (Mattner et al., 2017).
23. The individual should first talk with his healthcare provider about recommended vaccines
required and check with the local healthcare department. He can also find a travel clinic in the
area and book a vaccine providing appointment and get vaccinated. He can also go to his
healthcare provider who may conduct a thorough assessment of the heart and give him the
information about his heart condition stating that he is eligible to go or not.
24. In such a scenario, the nurse should never say no on the face but in turn be polite and
discuss the importance of checking the ingredients of the Ayurvedic medicines. The nurse should
also clarify to the patients that if the ingredients of the two types of medicines interact adversely,

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
the patient may have problems. This will help the patient to understand the scenario and at the
same time the nurse would also be able to maintain the patient’s autonomy and dignity.
25.1. Beyond Blue have the goals of reducing the impact of depression, anxiety, suicide by
supporting people mentally. It also covers the education of people’ experience of stigma and
discrimination, improve opportunities to get effective support and use best practices to deliver r
integrated, evidence-based and cost-effective care.
25.2. National Bowel cancer screening program focused on the development of national
communication s framework attracting more than 4million people over the year in order to
reduce the burden of bowel cancer cases for Australians and their families.
26. Betty Neuman’s system model of care contributes knowledge about a comprehensive
flexible as well as holistic and system based acre with the perspective of nursing profession. It
mainly focuses on the response of the client system to that of the actual as well as potential
environmental stressors and also the use of primary, secondary and also tertiary nursing
interventions that are based on retention, attainment as well as maintenance of optimal client
system wellness (Khatiban et al., 2016).
27. I would first help my colleague to overcome her grief by letting her not take it to the heart
and describing her that how remaining inclined to own culture is an obvious nature of human
being. After empowering her through the ideas of nursing profession I will try to make her
concentrate more on her work that other’s comments. Meanwhile, I will try to calmly approach
the supervisor about my colleague not ever saying that she complained but saying that she was
found morossed about his or her comments in culture and how that is affecting her will power

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
and letting her to depression. I hope my calm and composed approach would help the supervisor
to understand and work accordingly.
28.1. According to universal access to care, the enrolled nurses should provide equal
importance to treatment of both short term and long term mode to each and every individual of
the nation irrespective of caste, creed and religion. The care provided will be holistic that is
besides treating symptoms and promoting wellness by health promotion, health education and
treatment plan, a holistic care should also be provided.
28.2. The principle s of wellness states that the nurse should see wellness as the comprehensive
process that depends on the individual being positively empowered, self responsible and taking
proactive actions and production of outcomes which will help[ to restore health of the patients.