The Lack of Healthcare Access in Rural Australia: An Opinion Editorial

This opinion editorial examines the critical issue of limited healthcare access in rural Australia, highlighting its detrimental impact on human dignity and the principle of common good. The essay explores the disparities in medical assistance and proper health care experienced by rural populations compared to those in major cities, citing statistics on smoking rates, road accidents, and cancer screening to illustrate the severity of the problem. It attributes the lack of access to factors such as poverty, inadequate education, and the nursing profession's practices, which include poor staff practice and low interpersonal communication. The editorial emphasizes the importance of nurses promoting human dignity and common good by improving communication skills, understanding cultural views on healthcare, and ensuring equal care for all patients. The author suggests that by implementing these principles, the nursing profession can help bridge the healthcare gap and improve the well-being of rural Australians.

Running head: OPINION EDITORIAL
OPINION EDITORIAL ON LACK OF ACCESS TO MEDICAL HEALTH CARE IN
AUSTRALIA
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note

1OPINION EDITORIAL
The principle of human dignity underlines with the conceptual determinant of human
respect. It formulate an unconditional right to protect the human and give priority to their
wellbeing. In the profession of nursing, it is important to maintain the dignity and respect of
patients (Bradley-Levine and Carr 2015). From the Catholic State Teaching it is known that
every individual in the earth has their own value and they are worthy of respect (Sison, Ferrero
and Guitián 2016). With due health care problem present globally, adverse impact is being
imposed in human and affecting the dignity. In Australia, this can be seen by evaluating the
health condition of rural peoples.
The principle of common good is reflected as mean of complete development of
individual concerning to their social living (Annett 2016). The complete development of the
individual depend on their level of interaction with the society and growth of their dignity within
the society. In the present scenario of Australia the rural peoples are excluded from the general
perspective of their wellbeing and existence.
People who are living in the rural and remote areas have poorer access to the medical
assistance and proper health care (Martinson and Reichman 2016). The issue presented is
affecting the human dignity and realization of common goods. 1 in 5 people of indigenous
people of Australia smoke daily (Azzopardi 2018). The road accident in the remote areas is four
times higher than the major cities (Sugiyama et al. 2016). The reason underlines behind the issue
is lack of access to medical health care by them (Von dem Knesebeck, Vonneilich and Kim
2016). The screening test for cancer is absent in rural areas (Diaz et al. 2018). In the study of
2014-2015, there were 86% more visit to general practitioner by the people of major cities when
compared with remote area peoples (Britt et al. 2015).

2OPINION EDITORIAL
The people of remote areas are uneducated, unemployed and ignorant regarding modern
health care. There is high level of poverty in the area which is diminishing their health status.
They do not have equal access to proper health care as people living in major cities possess. Such
issues is adversely affecting their human dignity (Høy et al. 2016). With the prevalence of such
case, the principle of common good is negatively impacted.
The factors for lack of access to medical health care is accountable with the nursing
profession (Aitamaa et al. 2016). It is also noted that people in the senior position who do not
have adequate interpersonal and leadership quality, fails to motivate the nursing staffs and
patient in health care access (Chana, Kennedy and Chessell 2015). Such issue is leading to poor
service to the patient accompanied with negative influence on dignity of person and common
good. In such profession, there is poor staff practice and low interpersonal communication. The
staff often use derogatory language with rural people and fail to show concern to their need (Cho
et al. 2016). These all reason are affecting the human dignity and common good (Jacobs 2016).
The practice principle of nursing profession need to turn their attention towards
promotion of human dignity and common goods. The three principle factors of common good
are showing respect to the human person, to maintain social well-being and to reflect peace,
security and stability for the care of patient (Yardimci et al. 2017). The basic element stated
above are the ways by which nursing professional address to solve the issue of lack of access to
medical health care in rural areas of Australia.
The nurse needs to have quality skill of communication which can breach the gap of
language and health care inequality in Australia. By knowing the language spoken in different
part of areas, nurse would be able to communicate well and can give better health care to the

3OPINION EDITORIAL
patients. This will also make the patient feel respectful and help to build trust relationship
regarding the type of care given.
Maintaining the social wellbeing and peace in treatment process will help to maintain the
human dignity. Such thing can be addressed by gaining education regarding the different cultural
views of health care that is making them inaccessible. By knowing the cultural background,
nurse can give proper health care according to their choice. This will help the patient from
different areas to know about the care. It will help in construction of social wellbeing and as well
as their dignity would not be harmed or sacrificed. The nurse have to give equal type of care to
all the patients so that patient feel secured and stable regarding health care access. Through the
opinion put forward in the description, will assist in maintain the human dignity and common
good.

4OPINION EDITORIAL
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