Avondale College Nursing Essay: Humanitarian Aid and RNs

This essay examines the role of Australian registered nurses in providing humanitarian aid in international settings, specifically focusing on their work with organizations like ADRA Australia in response to disasters and humanitarian crises in regions like East Africa and India. The essay details the responsibilities of RNs, including providing medical care, emotional support, and coordinating with local communities. It also analyzes the benefits of this type of work, such as gaining valuable experience and building trust with patients, while also addressing the challenges, including language barriers, safety concerns, and emotional burnout. The essay highlights the importance of cultural sensitivity, ethical considerations, and the need for RNs to balance patient care with their own well-being in demanding situations. The essay concludes by emphasizing the critical role of RNs in humanitarian efforts and the need for continued support and training to address the complex challenges they face.

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The purpose of this essay is to enlighten the reader about the role of Australian nurses in
helping the community with the humanitarian situation present outside Australia. The non-
governmental organization chosen for the given case ADRA Australia, the NGO believes that all
the people were created to live as God intended them to do. The organization works to free the
society from poverty and disadvantage. The social cause for which the Australian registered
nurses worked is responding towards Disaster Preparedness and Relief. The registered nurses of
Australia helped the people of East African region for droughts and helped India in Cyclone
Fani. ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) is an official humanitarian agency of
Seventh-day Adventist Church (ADRA, 2019).
The organization works as a part of global ADRA network. The NGO has currently
extended its hands with more than 140 countries. The organization develops and restores
relationships so that people can thrive in a world that is formed and flourished by God. Talking
about the event that happened in East Africa, it should be noted that the country was struggling
with mega disasters that affected the livelihood of people. Through this calamity, 20,000 people
were displaced as the Indonesian tsunami washed away thousands of homes. This led the people
to resettle in camps because their houses were washed by the Tsunami. Further, the Cyclone Fani
also affected the state of many people present in India. The Ngo worked to provide medical aid
to such people and led them build their life again (ADRA, 2019). Further, the below mentioned
essay highlights the role of such RN in helping the people with the situation and the possible
challenges faced by them while working on the humanitarian need.
In the given case of ADRA association, it should be noted that the registered nurses
present with the organization successfully helped the people in coping up with the situation and
supporting mentally as well as in health perspectives. The people of India and East African
region were heavily affected by the Tsunami and various other natural calamities due to which
they required help from the external stable sources (Gimbel, Kohler, Mitchell, & Emami, 2017).
The registered nurses of the ADRA organization came to rescue the people and help them with
their issues in the environment as well. Considering the role of registered nurse, the fact should
be noted that a registered nurse in Australia is a person who undertakes actions as prescribed by
the Health Practitioners Regulation National Law, as in force in each of the state and territory as

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per national law. The NMBA is the regulatory body that regulates the practice of nursing and
midwifery in the country Australia (Brown, 2017).
One of the key roles of registered nurses is to protect the interest of public in the
environment. They work to satisfy the needs of the people related to health perspective. A
registered nurse needs to meet several rules and guidelines in the environment so that they can
work with hesitation in the environment. The role of registered nurse is to provide adequate care
and attention to the people who are hurt in the environment and take suitable decisions to uplift
their interest as well. The role of registered nurse is to communicate with the people and provide
them standard care in the environment (Townsend, Gray, & Forber, 2016). The registered nurses
are the people with whom the patients connect directly. As the injured people are frightened with
the going conditions, so they feel safe and secure with the RN. The role of registered nurse of
ADRA working in international environment is to not only take care of the health of the people
but also support them emotionally because emotionally support helps them to come out of
trauma and let the RN do the treatment. The registered nurse of ADRA are primarily responsible
for the professional performance and the patient care as well (Adamakidou, & Kalokerinou‐
Anagnostopoulou, 2017).
The RN of the organization acts as volunteers and visits the locations outside Australia to
treat and support the injured people. The RN in ADRA perform their tasks under the Social
Inclusion Framework that aims to achieve wellbeing and security of the people present around
them. The RN of the organization promises to take care of the interest of people and treat them
with any kind of discrimination. The organization on the other hand works to build capacities
with the overseas partners so that they can collaborate and work together to support the
communities. The organization seeks to affirm the environmental sustainability and development
to people (Downes, 2015). Further, it should be noted that the registered nurses plays the most
important role in the environment that is to take care of the people and give them an opportunity
to live. Thus, there are certain guidelines and patterns that the registered nurses need to follow
when encountered with any situation in the environment. The registered nurses need to perform
the assessment of patient by focusing on the problem and making appropriate use of age specific
assessment techniques. Sometimes the injured cannot tell themselves that what is hurting them or

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where are hurt, so the registered nurses need perform a full body check-up with limited time and
resources so as to treat the patients (Rumsey, Catling, Thiessen, & Neill, 2017).
The registered nurses also need to give direction to the enrolled nurses in the environment
and train them work effectively in their absence as well. The registered nurses need to prioritize
the areas, set up teams and groups differently, formulate action plan for patient care and then
implement actions in the environment. The work of a registered nurse is far more diverse than
just patient care as they need to keep the medical record of the people according to the clinic
standard, give morale support to the people, guide the enrolled nurses to perform the task,
develop action plan to treat the patient at times of crisis. The healthcare problems can be critical
several times as the nurses and the medical practitioners can face difficulty in finding the
potential problem (Bonilla, & Beukeboom, 2017).
Thus, the registered nurses support the medical practitioners in finding cues of the
problem and giving the post operation care to the people as well. The registered nurses aims to
provide basic life support to the people and guide them ways with they can take care of
themselves in future. Lastly, it should also be noted that the registered nurses at ADRA work to
provide support and care to the patients and they also aim to provide emotional support to the
family of the patient. These nurses work to alleviate the fear and anxiety of people and provide
them assurance that they will treat the patient with care (Gower, Duggan, Dantas, & Boldy,
2017).
Further, it should be noted that ever-growing demand of medical health professional in
the country Australia has given more importance to the role or registered nurses in the external
environment. There are several benefits and challenges that are faced by the registered nurses in
the business environment in performing their jobs effectively. With the thorough analysis of the
role of registered nurse it is clear to see that the registered nurses perform several tasks in the
environment to support the community. So, while performing their job, they encounter with
several critical situations in the environment that hinders their work (Pittman, & Salmon, 2016).
Considering the benefits of registered nurses, it should be noted that the biggest benefit is that
people trust them in an NGO that reduces the extent to difficulty faced by them in the
environment. During their course of action, the RN are trained to communicate with the patients

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in such a way that they develop faith and trust on them as after the natural calamity the patients
get scared and they do not let anybody treat them. Resulting in which, this job of RN provides
them the opportunity to treat the patient and let other people help them as well (Leidel, Hauck, &
McGough, 2018). Furthermore, it should be noted that another benefit of this type of job is that it
provide immense experience to the RN and provide them the opportunity to work under critical
situations as well. The registered nurses in the environment attain optimum experience of
working in the field and treating the patient that provides them satisfaction in their jobs as well.
The registered nurses are a link between the activities of the NGO ADRA and the patients as
they are the first person who contacts the patients in the environment. However, the situations
not always go as favourable as it seems to be as it should be note that the RN of Australia face
difficulty in treating the people belonging to aboriginal east Africa (Willis, Carryer, Harvey,
Pearson, & Henderson, 2017).
Difference in language creates a major difficulty in treating the patients as due to this
problem the RN face difficulty in explaining the issues to the patients and their families and
seeking their approval for further treatment as well. While visiting a threat prone situation, the
RN also faces the threat of their lives that can many times affect their decision making power.
Further, it should be noted that it is important to treat the patient after knowing their medical
history, so if the RN does not know the medical history of the patient then either their one
decision can treat the patient or it can kill them as well (Smolowitz, et. al., 2015). When the RN
of ADRA visits the affected location of India or East Africa, then they need to take quick actions
on the situation however emotional burnout at crisis can make their decision clouded. It is
important for the RN to attain adequate amount of experience before working with an NGO like
ADRA. The organization is committed to its people and work to provide support to the people
affected due to natural calamity (Velez, & Foster, 2016).
Thus, it should be noted that RN connected with an NGO faces several situations that
make them competent in their job but many times their wrong decisions leads to medical issues
for several people. This can also give rise of breach of ethical and moral standards due to
incompetency of RN in making an adequate decision. A RN in an NGO attain loads of work
pressure as well, as they need to help the medical practitioner in treating the patient, also they
need to take care of the patient after the treatment. The RN need to support families of the

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patients emotionally and keep a track record of all the actions as well. Thus, it should be noted
that in this way a RN experiences different benefits and challenges while working in with a NGO
(Walker, Clendon, & Nelson, 2015).
Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, the fact should be noted that the above
mentioned paper highlighted details about the international non-governmental organization
ADRA and the role of Australian registered nurses working with them to treat the patients
present in different parts of the world. The NGO is currently working on two projects that are in
East Africa and India. The people in that area are affected due to the natural calamity occurred in
the nation. The above mentioned paper guide the reader about the role of registered nurses in the
external environmental and the benefits and challenges encountered by them while performing
their jobs in the work field. The work of a RN is critical as they treat people in the environment,
so their one minor mistake of ignorance can give rise to several ethical and moral issues in the
environment. Thus, it is important for them to perform their tasks with full accountability and
responsibility in the environment.

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