Healthcare Workforce Distribution: Nursing Assessment 3 Project

This project plan addresses the critical issue of healthcare workforce distribution and supply in Australia. It begins with an introduction to the publicly funded healthcare system and identifies the shortage of medical practitioners and nurses, especially in rural areas. The plan justifies the problem's significance, citing the aging nursing workforce and the increasing reliance on foreign-trained professionals. A detailed situation assessment explores the shortage of medical practitioners, nurses, and native-born professionals. The literature analysis reviews the optimal workforce requirements, the dynamics of the nursing sector, and the impact of government initiatives like the HWA programs. The project plan proposes goals and objectives focused on public health nursing, particularly addressing the lack of nurses in remote areas. It outlines potential causes, including workforce shortages and an aging population, and suggests actions to be executed, such as increasing leadership capacity, improving retention strategies, and promoting innovation in nursing practices. The plan also sets criteria for further reflection and evaluation to ensure the project's effectiveness. The project aims to improve healthcare access and quality for all Australians, particularly those in underserved areas.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT ASSESSMENT 3 PROJECT PLAN
NURSING ASSIGNMENT ASSESSMENT 3 PROJECT PLAN
Issue: “Problem with Healthcare Workforce with distribution and
supply."
Student Name:
Student ID:
Referencing Style: APA
Word Count: 2615

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Issue or problem in Health Care Setting..........................................................................................2
Justification and Significance of the Problem.................................................................................3
Situation Assessment and all the Aspects Involved........................................................................3
Literature Analysis...........................................................................................................................7
The Optimal Workforce Required in Australia...........................................................................7
Workforce in the Nursing Sector.................................................................................................8
Evaluation of the Project-Based on Findings from the Literature.............................................10
Project Plan....................................................................................................................................10
Proposed Goal/ objectives.........................................................................................................10
Potential Causes for Problem.....................................................................................................11
Actions to be executed...............................................................................................................12
Criteria for further Reflection and Evaluation of the project....................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 2
Introduction
Australia is one of the countries that have a health system which is publically funded. All
the Australian residents thus, can claim free treatment and have access to public healthcare
services. The healthcare sector in Australia is well equipped with all the modern resources and
good doctors. However, it faces a number of healthcare issues such as issues with equity, issues
in the research sector related to funding, urbanisation causing various health issues. This project
will focus on one of the major healthcare problems related to the country. A Problem Solving
and decision-making plan will be constructed with respect to a major healthcare issue as the
primary focus.
Issue or problem in Health Care Setting
The issue selected for the purpose of this project is "Problem with Healthcare Workforce
with distribution and supply". The set of the workforce in any healthcare system in the world
consist of an important number of elements. The elements are Medical Practitioners, Allied
Health Professionals, Physiotherapists, Various Occupational Therapists, Clinical Psychologists,
Indigenous Health Workers, Nurses, and so on (Sturmberg et al. 2018). The net magnitude of
healthcare individuals is 450,000 (Paid). Among the 450,000 individuals, only 9% are health
professionals, while only 12% are medical practitioners and more than 50% are nurses (Segal &
Bolton, 2019). As evident from the figures, the actual amount of medical practitioners and health
professionals is a lot less than the actual required number, and the number of nurses is the
maximum according to the above-mentioned figures (Andrilla et al. 2018). Nursing workforce
exists as the majority in Australian Healthcare distribution. Moreover, the age of the Nursing

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 3
workforce that is available and the age of the population is directly proportional. Thus, Australia
Nursing Sector is going to face a huge crisis in the near future.
Justification and Significance of the Problem
The Australian nursing workforce is the majority of the total workforce in the country. If
the Nursing workforce is deteriorated in the country, the whole healthcare sector can collapse.
The doctors and the actual medical professionals as well the hospitals are dependent majorly on
the nursing sector. Moreover, there is a rapid decline in the induction of nurses in the Australian
Nursing Sector (Fraher et al. 2016). Along with the rapid decline in the induction of new
working individuals in the sector, the existing workforce is also ageing simultaneously. Nurses
are an integral and important part of the total healthcare system, and a reduction in their
magnitude will slow down the complete healthcare sector of the country (Bates et al. 2016).
Moreover, more than 25% of the healthcare professionals in the country are not natives and
trained outside the country. AMWAC (Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee) that
the numbers of doctors trained outside the country have rather increased (Grover et al. 2016).
Moreover, according to a recent survey conducted by Negin et al. (2013), out of the 70,230
population of medical practitioners in Australia in 2011, 53% had found to be non-native. This is
a serious issue that could cause a lot of damage to the Australian Healthcare in the coming years.
Situation Assessment and all the Aspects Involved
The issue with the Healthcare Workforce with distribution and supply is not a problem
that emerged simply out of thin air. The issue has been on the rise since the last decade and has

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now built up as a major threat to the Australian Healthcare Sector. There are a number of reasons
due to which the growth of this issue is continuous. The reasons are as follows,
1. Shortage of Medical Practitioners
The Australian Healthcare Industry Comprises of 450,000 as mentioned earlier but only
12 % are trained Medical Practitioners (Segal & Bolton, 2019). This optimal range of Medical
Practitioners should be in between 30 % to 35 % among the total number (Roncarolo et al.
2017). Moreover, not only the number is less but constant as well. The induction of doctors in
the Australian health sector has been very low.
2. Shortage of Nurses
Nurses comprise the majority of the total healthcare workforce, but still, there will be a
shortage of nurses in the near future. The number of nurses that are working in the Australian
Healthcare system is decreasing day by day due to various reasons (Liu et al. 2017). The age of
the nursing sector is increasing, and a lot of them are retiring, on the other hand, the number of
nurses that are joining the health sector is very low.

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 5
Figure 1: Distribution and retention of the health workforce in Australia
(Source: Crettenden et al. 2014)
3. Shortage of Native Workforce
25% of the total workforce is non-native. The number may seem small at first sight, but if
the number of medical practitioners is considered, which is 19%, then that makes the number of
native doctors to be very low in number (Jesus et al. 2017). Doctors produced in Australia are
very less than the optimal number.

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 6
Figure 2: Nurse Density for every 1,000 persons in 2011
(Source: Gov, 2014)
Literature Analysis
The Optimal Workforce Required in Australia
The healthcare workforce in Australia has seen a positive gradient with respect to the
growth of the professionals being inducted into the industry. Between 1996 and 2001, the
healthcare workforce grew by 12%, and between the years 2001 and 2006, the workforce saw a
growth of 23 % (Doyle & Streeter, 2017) The numbers might seem very less, but when you

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 7
compare the growth percentage with the growth in population, the numbers are almost doubt.
The growth was constant until the year 2006 (Holloway & Galvin, 2016). But the growth has
declined since the year 2007 and continued to decline. The next question that arises is “What is
the Optimal Workforce that is required for the Country?” The “Optimal” size of the workforce is
sometimes defined as follows:
“The number per capita for each health profession, based on historical precedent with
adjustment according to simulation modelling for anticipated changes in demographics;
disease patterns; healthcare technology; and workforce entry and exit based on global
competition, earlier retirement and shorter working hours."
The main reason for the shortage in the workforce was due to a variety of reasons. The
population in the country is ageing day by day which creates a rise in the healthcare demand. As
mentioned above the growth of the Australian Healthcare workforce was optimal until the year
2006. The growth rate was almost double the growth in population (Murdaugh et al. 2018).
Surprisingly, the growth rate of the workforce is not that less from the past numbers, and the
gradient of the population is also not that huge, but the population that has existed till now has
continued to age rapidly, and that has increased the demand of healthcare. The Demand Supply
equation has been unbalanced since the last decade, which is one of the main issues in the
decreasing workforce in the country.
Workforce in the Nursing Sector
The Nursing sector takes a vast majority in the total workforce in Australian Healthcare, and
an ample amount of budget is allocated to the sector as well. In the year 2012, a total of 273,404

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nurses were present as Registered Nurses, and 60,000 nurses were registered as Enrolled Nurses
in the country (Giger, 2016). These numbers represent a huge investment by the Australian
Government in the nursing sector. But still, there were a number of issues related to the
retention, training capacity, productivity of the sector. In the year 2012, HWA (Health
Workforce Australia) released a report that projected the long term scenarios of professions
related to the Australian Healthcare Sector. The report was named "Health Workforce 2025 –
Doctors, Nurses and Midwives (HW2025)” (Gov, 2014). HWA also launched a number of
projects to mitigate a few of the health care issues. The Projects were as follows,
1. The Nursing Retention and Productivity Project
The project was launched by HWA to mitigate the issues proposed in HW2025. The project
mainly focused on three major issues which the HWA selected as the root cause of all other
issues related to Nursing Retention and Productivity. The three major areas were as follows
a. Increasing the Leadership Capacity of Nursing
b. Retention of Nurses by providing various facilities such as preparation of nursing
job roles at a young age, supporting nurses by providing various financial benefits
and various opportunities (Gov, 2014).
c. Inducing innovation in Nursing Practices
2. The Clinical Training Funding (CTF) Program
This program was also launched in direct response to the HW2025 report. The program
encouraged the induction of completely new technology in various Clinics across the country.

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 9
Along with new technology, the program also aimed at improving the quality of the training that
was being provided in the country. The program also allocated an appropriate budget to improve
the clinical infrastructure as well. The program operated on a total of $425 Million as allocated
by the HWA (Gov, 2014). Out of this total funding, an amount of $52.4 Dollars was allocated to
nursing training infrastructure.
3. The Rural Health Professional Program
The program was created to increase the interests of various healthcare professionals to work
in rural areas. The HW2025 raised a major issue related to the unavailability of proper healthcare
in various rural areas of the country. The program offered various added benefits and allowances
to the healthcare professionals who offered their services in various rural areas. The program
launched in January of the year 2012 and has accumulated a total of 130 Nurses working in
various remote areas in Australia Permanently (Gov, 2014).
4. The Expanded Scope of Practice Program
This program was launched by the HWA to bring modern healthcare tools and equipment in
the country. The HW2025 report also raised a concern related to the usage of old technology in
the Australian Healthcare Infrastructure (Gov, 2014). By the induction of modern healthcare
equipment, the scope of practices of various nurses would increase, and the healthcare
infrastructure would become modern. The HWA sponsored a total of 14 programs that trained
healthcare professional on the usage of modern machinery and tools related to healthcare.

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 10
Evaluation of the Project-Based on Findings from the Literature
The Literature Review proves that the HWA has provided a majority of its budget
allocation to the Nursing Services. The various programs such as retention and training project
for nurses, the rural health program that caused a lot of nurses to take up jobs at rural area and so
on (Butcher et al. 2018). The Literature Review points out that Nursing Sector is very important
and needs to be maintained to optimize the overall healthcare workforce.
Project Plan
Proposed Goal/ objectives
The focused area of speciality, in this case, is Public Health Nursing. In the current year,
there is an appropriate supply of nursing workforce in Australia, but not enough Nurses are
available in the remote and rural areas of the country (Alligood, 2017). The population in rural
areas does have proper access to optimal healthcare. Each and every area of the country should
be able to access proper health care services, and thus the aim of the project plan has been
selected as follows, "Induction of Nurses to Serve in Rural and Remote areas of Australia".
Potential Causes for the Problem
There can be a number of reasons due to which healthcare professionals do not want to
work in rural areas. Some of the reasons could be as follows:
1. Lack of Proper Equipment and Infrastructure
Healthcare professionals sometimes do not want to work and rural and remote areas due
to the unavailability of proper equipment which makes providing treatment very difficult

Nursing Assignment Assessment 3 Project Plan 11
(Billings & Halstead, 2015). Moreover, there might be communication problems in such areas,
and that could be dangerous in a few scenarios.
2. Inappropriate Salaries
Another reason of the issue might be that the professionals who are asked to work in rural
and remote areas are not getting proper salaries and opportunities and that makes it difficult for
the professionals to work at such places (Billings & Halstead, 2015).
3. Lack of Housing Facilities
There might be a lack of lodging facilities in such areas. Food and water availability
could also be scarce (Smith & Liehr, 2018).
Resources to be used:
The resources that could be used to rectify the issue and complete the objective could be
as follows,
1. A proper budget allocation should be done that would be used to buy new and recent
healthcare equipment that will be used by healthcare professionals while working in
rural areas. Along with proper equipment, a proper training regime should be started
that would prepare the professionals to work at such sites efficiently. (Smith & Liehr,
2018)
2. Apart from the Budget Allocation for modern infrastructure, special and lucrative
opportunities should be provided, such as salary hikes, various allowances to the
professionals who work in rural and remote areas. (Smith & Liehr, 2018)