Western Sydney University: Health Systems BMP Risk Analysis Report

This report presents a risk analysis of the Bonded Medical Program (BMP), an Australian health reform aimed at addressing medical workforce shortages in rural and remote communities. The analysis identifies various risks, including high mortality rates due to inadequate healthcare standards, biased attitudes towards rural practice, inadequate rural experience and high workloads, student withdrawals from the program, and feelings of isolation among participants. Each risk is evaluated based on its impact, likelihood, and consequence, with a rating assigned to determine the severity. The report then proposes risk treatment strategies, such as equitable distribution of medical resources, promoting positive attitudes, providing adequate training and support, and offering career guidance to mitigate these risks and ensure the program's success. The analysis references several studies and reports from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to support its findings and recommendations.

Running head: BONDED MEDICAL PROGRAM 1
BONDED MEDICAL PROGRAM
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

BONDED MEDICAL PROGRAM 2
Bonded Medical Program
Risk analysis is the progression of identifying and evaluating any potential risk that could
cause harm to a business or project and prevent it from thriving. On the other hand, Bounded
Medical Program (BMP) is an Australian health reform system where medical students are
required by law to sign a legal contract for them to work in the regional, remote and rural
communities which often encounter a shortage of workforce (Australian Bureau of Statistics.,
2015). However, breach of contract by the medical students before the rural return of services
(RoS) or completion of the program attracts penalties. The penalty involves the beneficiary
who breached the contract paying the same amount of cash that he could have received
during the scholarship. A significant proportion of the people in Australia live in the rural and
remote areas where there is a shortage of medical experts. Some of them have to walk for a
long distance to get medical treatment.

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Risk Analysis
Risk Impact
Likelihood
Consequence
Rating
Risk Treatment Responsibility
High mortality
rates due to
reduced standards
of health care in
the remote
regions. The
standards of care
decline as a result
of an inadequate
workforce
(Sullivan et al.,
2019).
Low standards of medical care
will heighten the mortality rate
in rural regions. On that note,
the medical professions will
have some difficulty In
providing effective services
such as drugs and medical
equipment’s (Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare,
2016).
possible Severe High Equitable distribution of medical
equipment’s and drugs to the medical
institutes in the remote areas
Certify that there are high
standards of care in the
rural regions in regards to
the World Health
Organization (WHO)
The performance
of the medical
professions in the
rural regions are
affected by biased
thoughts, ideas
and attitudes
towards remote
areas
This biasness has an impact in
terms of provision of service.
Thus the caregivers become
negligent when attending to the
patients (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2016).
Likely Severe extreme The students should be encouraged to
change their thinking patterns by being
optimistic at all times, which will be
effective in avoiding negative thoughts
(Hudson & May, 2015). This will
facilitate a positive approach and an
honest desire for the students who will be
willing to be beneficiaries of the BMP
program.
Evaluating the cause of
negative thoughts, ideas
and attitudes

BONDED MEDICAL PROGRAM 4
Inadequate rural
experience and
high workload
have an impact in
terms of delivery
of efficient and
quality medical
services to the
rural communities
(Puddey, Playford
& Mercer, 2017).
High workload will lead to poor
delivery of medical services. On
the other hand, the lack of rural
experience will lead to
difficulty in communicating and
interacting with the local people
due to poor interpersonal skills
(Playford, Ngo, Gupta &
Puddey, 2017). Thus there will
be a challenge in diagnosing
and treating the patients.
Rare Minor Low The medical students need to be taught
proper interpersonal skills that will
facilitate easy communication with the
local people to avoid any form of
misunderstanding or emergence of
conflict (Lennon et al., 2019). In addition,
the program needs to allocate more
experienced caregivers in remote areas in
comparison to the less experienced
workers.
Ensure that they are more
experienced caregivers in
the remote areas, and the
workload is equally
distributed to them to
avoid overburdening other
workers.
The workforce in
the remote areas is
affected due to
student’s
withdrawal from
the program.
Additionally,
there is an
increased
incidence of
chronic infection
in the remote
region; thus, there
is a need for more
workforce
(Grobler, Marais
& Mabunda,
Medical students withdrawing
from the program will lead to a
shortage of workforce; hence
the caregivers will not be able
to attend to all the patients
(Calder et al., 2018).
likely Moderate medium A BMP is a legal contract; thus, medical
students need to be advised before signing
it. This will make them make
comprehensive decisions before applying
for the program (Calder et al., 2018). On
the other hand, the MRBS scholarship
needs to be allocated to the students who
are exposed and have medical practice
experience in the remote regions (Walters
et al., 2016).
Reviewing and reporting
to the boards of executives
about the withdrawal
cases.

BONDED MEDICAL PROGRAM 5
2015).
Increase in
remoteness
reduces the
accessibility of
medical services.
Thus the medical
students feel that
the program has
isolated them
from close family
members and
friends.
The willingness of the students
to deliver proper medical
service declines due to the
feeling of isolation. In addition,
they believed that their
education and job occupation
would be hindered by the RoS
(May, Brown & Burrows,
2018).
unlikely moderate High The medical students who are
beneficiaries of the program need to be
guided extensively in regards to planning
and career choice they make (Liu, Dou,
Zhang, Sun & Yuan, 2015).
Ensure that the medical
students are properly
advised on the benefits of
obtaining a scholarship
from the program and
their job safety

BONDED MEDICAL PROGRAM 6
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2015). National health survey: First results, 2014–15. ABS Cat. No. 4364.0.
55.001).
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2016). Admitted patient care 2014–15: Australian hospital
statistics. Health services series no 68, Cat. no. HSE 172.
Calder, R., Glover, J., Buckley, J., McNeil, J., Harris, B., & Lindberg, R. (2018). Better data for better
decisions: The Case for an Australian Health Survey.
Grobler, L., Marais, B. J., & Mabunda, S. (2015). Interventions for increasing the proportion of health
professionals practising in rural and other underserved areas. Cochrane database of systematic reviews,
(6).
Hudson, J. N., & May, J. A. (2015). What influences doctors to work in rural locations. Med J Aust, 202(1),
5.
Lennon, M., O’Sullivan, B., McGrail, M., Russell, D., Suttie, J., & Preddy, J. (2019). Attracting junior
doctors to rural centres: A national study of work‐life conditions and satisfaction. Australian Journal of
Rural Health, 27(6), 482-488.
Liu, X., Dou, L., Zhang, H., Sun, Y., & Yuan, B. (2015). Analysis of context factors in compulsory and
incentive strategies for improving attraction and retention of health workers in rural and remote areas: a
systematic review. Human resources for health, 13(1), 61.
May, J., Brown, L., & Burrows, J. (2018). In-Place Training: Optimizing Rural Health Workforce Outcomes
through Rural-Based Education in Australia. Education Sciences, 8(1), 20.
Playford, D., Ngo, H., Gupta, S., & Puddey, I. B. (2017). Opting for rural practice: the influence of medical
student origin, intention and immersion experience. Medical Journal of Australia, 207(4), 154-158.
Puddey, I. B., Playford, D. E., & Mercer, A. (2017). Impact of medical student origins on the likelihood of
ultimately practicing in areas of low vs high socio-economic status. BMC medical education, 17(1), 1.
Sullivan, B. O., Mcgrail, M., Russell, D., Walker, J., Chambers, H., & Major, L. (2018). workforce planning
Duration and setting of rural immersion during the medical degree relates to rural work outcomes.

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Walters, L., Seal, A., McGirr, J., Stewart, R., DeWitt, D., & Playford, D. (2016). Effect of medical student
preference on rural clinical school experience and rural career intentions. Rural and remote health, 16(4).