University Primary Health Care in Global Context: Nursing Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of primary health care within a global context, with a specific focus on the Australian healthcare system. It delves into the core principles of the World Health Organization (WHO) and their application to nursing practice, emphasizing the importance of accessibility, health promotion, public participation, collaboration, and technology use. The report examines the roles and responsibilities of nurses, including patient care, education, quality supervision, organization, and problem-solving, all within the framework of WHO guidelines. It also explores the social determinants of health, such as equity and social justice, and their impact on healthcare delivery, particularly the challenges nurses face in addressing these factors. Furthermore, the report evaluates key strategies in Australian Primary Health Care policies, considering epidemiological factors and climate change impacts. The report concludes with recommendations for strengthening nursing practices and enhancing collaboration to improve the healthcare sector, and emphasizes the need to address social justice and equity to improve the overall health of the global population.

Running head: PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN GLOBAL CONTEXT
Primary health care in Global context
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Executive Summary
The primary health care facility is imperative to every community and should be provided at an
affordable cost. The accessibility of the same should also be provided so that it does not become
a problem. This report aims to provide a detail analysis of the nursing professionals who faces
challenges while adhering to the ICN code of conduct.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The concept of primary health care is to facilitate the people from all strata get the basic
treatment and access to health care. The primary health care principles laid by the World Health
Association are mainly laid down in order to safeguard the general principles of health care and
providing an ultimate environmental condition for the needy (Melby et al., 2016). In context to
the Australian health care, most of the rural areas are deprived from the basic amenities on health
care compared to that of the metropolitan ones. The aim of this report is to conduct a thorough
evaluation of every concepts along with the discussion of WHO in Primary Health Care in
correspondence to nursing.
Discussion
The World Health Organization has defined the primary health care as the basic necessity
that the community and government of any country should make it available to the citizens at an
affordable cost. This essential health facility includes curative, promotion of health, disease
prevention, medical support and rehabilitation facility. The 5 principles laid down by the WHO
in respect to the primary health care are – Accessibility of health care, Health promotion,
Participation of public and community, collaboration, and use of technology. All these principles
are founded on the basic ground of an overall wellbeing of the humankind. The primary health
care nurses have a definitive role to play in upholding the principles of WHO as they have to
cover some of the primary principles mentioned in the guidelines (Barrett, Charles, & Temte,
2015). The fundamental task of a nurse are described below –

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Health promotion, preventing diseases, community development, antenatal and postnatal care,
rehabilitation, public health, etc. With reference to the Australian primary health care scenario,
the role of a nurse are described as
 Patient care giver – who has efficiency in administering injection, wound management,
aiding first aid, suturing, application of proper medicines, immunizing, etc.
 Educator – who can impart proper training to the medical students and new joiners,
other members of the practicing team, active engagement in illness prevention campaigns
in many areas, management of health conditions, etc.
 Quality supervisor – They are expected to manage quality efficiently in the times of
crisis for instance infection control, participating in campaigns, safe disposal of
contagious substances, updating of the policies and procedures of clinics, etc.
 Organizer – The nurses are also expected to organize the various activities related to
patient care (Duckett & Willcox, 2015). For instance she has to monitor and maintain the
patient register, check whether the instruments being used are sterilized or not, having a
regular update of the patient’s condition and status, management of wastes and its
disposal, planning and developing a plan that would help taking a patient follow up, etc.
 Problem solving approach - The nurses should have a problem solving approach
towards different adverse conditions as they have to deal with high flow of patients at
days, solving issues that have arisen with the help of either technological or other ways,
coordinating with the receptionist and their decision making, etc.
A holistic nursing care can be provided to the patients which are aligned with the primary
principles of heath care as stated in the WHO (Greenhalgh et al., 2016). All the responsibilities

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of a nurses resonate with the principles that also needs to be done in order to provide the best
service towards the humanity.
Social determinants that includes social justice and equity have a significant influence on the
health care. Nowadays, numerous determinants of health care are being incorporated in the
health care features like the recreational areas, accessibility to healthy foods, etc. There have
been a lot of controversies regarding the effect of societal condition in the improvement of health
care. Various researchers have suggested that the improvement of facilities like proper nutrition,
cleanliness, and sanitation have enhanced the conditions of the patients drastically. Though,
inevitably these basic matters aid in the improvement of health, however, one cannot deny the
improvement of living standard that have brought an effect in these cases. It has also been found
that the greater the education status of the country, the more likely it is to develop various issues
related to health. Apart from that, according to social justice in health care (Batterham et al.,
2016) –
 Every person should be valued and treated equally
 Every person should have the accessibility to basic health care regardless of
marginalisation or discriminatory grounds.
 The most important aspect of society is health (Melby et al., 2016).
The nurses face a lot of challenges when it comes to the social determinants of health. In
identifying and eliminating the inequities in the medical profession, the Australian health care
system has provided critical caring guides that need to be followed by the nurses (Batista et al.,

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2018). They particularly experienced challenges in enhancing the condition of the prevalent
structure which does not help in achieving health equity.
The health impacts of climate change and global warming have an impact on the overall
health of the humankind (Rasanathan, 2018). This has posed a significant challenge to the
nursing practices and professionals as they have to be prepared to combat all the situations with
the appropriate infrastructure. The psychological care units and mental health care service should
be expanded that can meet the requirement of the growing needs of patients.
Apart from that, the professionals also face severe challenges in providing the patients with
the availability of sufficient equipment and infrastructure needed for treating a particular disease.
As per the principles health care should be affordable and accessible to all people regardless of
the country.
Recommendation
The nursing professionals are one of the pillars of the medical scenario of any country. Their
diligence, hard work and patience are necessary for the wellbeing of the entire human race as
they provide the best services towards humanity (Malik et al., 2018). Though, there are many
challenges that the entire sector faces every day, the health practitioners should strengthen their
values by collaborating with others that can help them fight the adverse conditions. Moreover,
they should also respond to various needs that arise in the society at time and large.
Conclusion
In respect to the above analysis, it can be concluded that the health care sector has indeed been a
blessing to the entire humanity, however, some of the factors needs to be attended and addressed
to some of the main issues like social justice and equity should be incorporated in the scenario

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for further enhancement of the sector. Moreover, the best of services can only be attained with
the collective participation of health practitioners, clinicians, nurses and people related to the
medical field. This would surely help in removing the obstacles faced by the nursing
professionals.

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References
Barrett, B., Charles, J. W., & Temte, J. L. (2015). Climate change, human health, and
epidemiological transition. Preventive medicine, 70, 69-75.
Batista, R., Pottie, K., Bouchard, L., Ng, E., Tanuseputro, P., & Tugwell, P. (2018). Primary
health care models addressing health equity for immigrants: a systematic scoping
review. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 20(1), 214-230.
Batterham, R. W., Hawkins, M., Collins, P. A., Buchbinder, R., & Osborne, R. H. (2016). Health
literacy: applying current concepts to improve health services and reduce health
inequalities. Public health, 132, 3-12.
Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford
University Press.
Greenhalgh, T., Jackson, C., Shaw, S., & Janamian, T. (2016). Achieving research impact
through co‐creation in community‐based health services: literature review and case
study. The Milbank Quarterly, 94(2), 392-429.
Malik, A., Lenzen, M., McAlister, S., & McGain, F. (2018). The carbon footprint of Australian
health care. The Lancet Planetary Health, 2(1), e27-e35.
Melby, M. K., Loh, L. C., Evert, J., Prater, C., Lin, H., & Khan, O. A. (2016). Beyond medical
“missions” to impact-driven short-term experiences in global health (STEGHs): ethical
principles to optimize community benefit and learner experience. Academic
Medicine, 91(5), 633-638.

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Rasanathan, K. (2018). 10 years after the Commission on Social Determinants of Health: social
injustice is still killing on a grand scale. The Lancet, 392(10154), 1176-1177.