The current world is facing a huge crisis in the healthcare section as maximum of the countries throughout the world are facing difficulties while retaining their healthcare experts (Goodman & Schorling, 2012). The increased life expectancy of aged people, increased expectancy of healthcare consumers and rising cost of technological equipment has increased the stress and events of burnout in the healthcare profession that has led professionals to quit their jobs (Ivers et al., 2012). Australian healthcare facility is also suffering from this lack of healthcare experts and are considering areas in which nursing sustainability approach can be implemented. The prime objective of this assignment is to identify the updated workforce profile of Australian healthcare professionals collecting the data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Further the implication of the data with changed characteristics will be discussed in the assignment. After that using current literatures the current and future status of the total nursing workforce will be analyzed. Finally the geographical distribution of Australian healthcare experts and after that the relevancy of nursing workforce sustainability recommendations in current settings will be described.
As the nature of healthcare facilities are changing, the Australian life expectancy is increasing simultaneously. The health related burden has shifted towards chronic physiological changes, diseases that require mote technological, metal and physical stress in case of healthcare professionals (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017). However, due to the highest amount of pride received in the profession, nurses and midwives are quitting their jobs due to higher amount of burnouts and work related depressions. A data collected from the Australian statistical department determines that the healthcare related expenditure is expected to grow by 68% by 2040 and maximum sum will be spent on the healthcare of people aged 65 and above (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017).
While planning the health workforce, it is important to assess the number of workforce and their characteristics so that the rationale of the number increased or decreased can be presented. In the following section three tables having the number of healthcare experts such as enrolled nurses, registered nurses and total nurses and midwives of 2009, 2012 and 2015 has been presented.
Table 1A: Workforce characteristics of employed registered nurses as well as midwives
|
Workforce characteristics |
2009 |
2012 |
2015 |
|
Headcount |
225,040 |
238,520 |
360,008 |
|
FTE nurses |
198,924 |
212,659 |
331,015 |
|
FTE per 1000,000 population |
905.9 |
936.4 |
1138.2 |
|
Male proportion |
9.8 |
10.4 |
10.5 |
|
Average age (years) |
44.2 |
44.3 |
44.2 |
|
Proportion aged 55+(%) |
– |
37.7 |
– |
FTE or Full Time equivalent workforce is based on 38 hour week.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015).
Table 1B: Workforce characteristics of employed enrolled nurses as well as midwives
|
Workforce characteristics |
2009 |
2012 |
2015 |
|
Headcount |
51,711 |
51,624 |
51070 |
|
FTE nurses |
43,614 |
42,467 |
48932 |
|
FTE per 1000,000 population |
198.2 |
187.0 |
|
|
Male proportion |
8.9 |
9.2 |
10.5 |
|
Average age (years) |
44.9 |
46.0 |
44.2 |
|
Proportion aged 55+(%) |
– |
45.5 |
– |
FTE or Full Time equivalent workforce is based on 38 hour week.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015).
Table 1C: workforce characteristics of all employed nurses
|
Workforce characteristics |
2009 |
2012 |
2015 |
|
Headcount |
276,751 |
290,144 |
360008 |
|
FTE nurses |
242,521 |
255,174 |
263.209 |
|
FTE per 1000,000 population |
1,104.1 |
1,123.6 |
1230.9 |
|
Male proportion |
9.6 |
10.2 |
10.6 |
|
Average age (years) |
44.3 |
44.6 |
47.2 |
|
Proportion aged 55+(%) |
– |
45.5 |
– |
FTE or Full Time equivalent workforce is based on 38 hour week.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015).
Hence from this above table, it is clear that in 2015, total 360,008 nursing professionals registered themselves in healthcare facilities and within that only 331,015 started employing under any healthcare facility. The total average age of nursing professionals was around 50 years and maximum number of these professionals were women. If the change in the number is concerned, it has been observed that from the year 2011, the number of registered nurses has been increased by 11% and the current number is around 300,524 however the number of registered midwives and enrolled nurses has decreased tremendously by 21.2% and 0.3% respectively. Hence, it is a major issue of concern as increasing healthcare related demand is Australia requires a huge healthcare professionals force so that the demand can be fulfilled with quality healthcare facility.
While discussing the environmental scan of the nursing workforce, the current and future working status of the nursing profession will be discussed. The Australian Institute of health and welfare released the first data related to nursing workforce in the year 2012, in which the data of nursing professionals from the year 2007 to 2012 was mentioned. The data showed a steep increase in the number of nursing professionals however the data also predicted that the number of the nursing staff will see a decrease as there are several lacks in the healthcare professionals demand and the number of dissatisfaction in professional life was increasing for nurses 9 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017). According to Freund et al., (2015), the primary reason for such decrease was lack of sufficient and appropriate vacancies for employed nurses that will decrease the number the nursing professionals joining the healthcare workforce. Further according to Sherman, Chiang?Hanisko & Koszalinski (2013), aging workforce, will be another reason due to which the healthcare workforce will see a shortfall that will increase the poor retention rates and decreasing health trends in population. However, the risk of workforce shortage is not applicable for all kind of healthcare workforce, categories such as aged care, mental healthcare, and midwifery will see tremendous lack in workforce as the stress in these workforce is much higher than others. Therefore there is an increased chance of burnouts that drives the professionals to leave their job. Therefore, the effect will be seen in case of productivity and retention of nursing professionals. Further, the rate of leaving the profession is also varied with age and the number of younger nursing professional leaving the profession has increased in last two years 9 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017).
The geographical distribution of nursing workforce is based on state and territorial distribution, regional distribution. In the table below the environmental distribution has been mentioned.
|
Year |
NSW |
Vic |
Qld |
WA |
SA |
Tas |
Aus |
|
2011 |
993 |
1182 |
1091 |
1037 |
1388 |
1239 |
1107 |
|
2012 |
1013 |
1188 |
1107 |
1062 |
1416 |
1179 |
1123 |
|
2013 |
1062 |
1211 |
1122 |
1094 |
1443 |
1257 |
1155 |
|
2014 |
1045 |
1189 |
1112 |
1067 |
1401 |
1239 |
1135 |
|
2015 |
1036 |
1191 |
1144 |
1070 |
1386 |
1261 |
1138 |
(Derived from Australian Institute of Health and Wellness, 2017)
The above table shows the number of FTE or Full Time equivalent number of nursing professionals in each state and territory. This is the number of nursing professionals per 100,000 patients in those states and territories. The rate decreased from metropolitan places to remote areas and the rate decreased by 12.1% in very remote places or migratory places (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017).
The Australian Institute of Health and welfare also provided several recommendations so that the staff or workforce in nursing sector can be increased. Further these recommendations were used to impose innovation in the workforce and it targets three major areas. These areas are building capacity for nursing leadership, modifying the retention process by early career preparation, support and providing them with the provision of opportunities and incorporating innovations so that productivity can be enhanced (Foureur et al., 2013). For these purposes the authorities developed clinical training funding program that aims to increase the rate of placements in healthcare facilities and increase the clinical training infrastructure so that the career can become engaging and adventurous. This step was successful as by 2014, $76.5 million fund was provided to this program to continue the Nobel work did for this purpose as the program increases the placement rate by 38% within 3 years (Williams et al., 2014).
Further, another program namely the rural health professionals program was introduced, so that a range of support can be provided to the healthcare workers working in remote areas of Australia (Freund et al., 2015). After the launch of this program, more than 120 rural nurses has taken assistance form this program to deal with their burnouts and stressful events they face while caring for patients in their workplace. Finally a program namely expanded scope of practice program was taken into consideration. Therefore, while analyzing the recommendations provided by the AIHW authority, it should be mentioned they focused on each aspect of decease of nursing professionals, however they lacked the aspect of less remuneration that also affects the number of working healthcare staffs in Australian healthcare facility (Scott et al., 2015). Hence, these recommendations will be able to fulfill the gap present in healthcare profession however, for longer approach, the authorities should focus on funding and remuneration related aspects as well.
Conclusion
While concluding the assignment, the issue related to lack in nursing professional’s number throughout the world should be mentioned. It is a global issue nowadays and the Australian healthcare facilities are also suffering from these concerns. However the best thing about this issue that Australian healthcare facilities are already started taking important steps so that these issues can be solved with fulfilling all the demands of the nursing professionals within the facility.
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017). Nursing and midwifery workforce 2015, How many nurses and midwives are there? – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved 5 April 2018, from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/workforce/nursing-and-midwifery-workforce-2015/contents/how-many-nurses-and-midwives-are-there
Foureur, M., Besley, K., Burton, G., Yu, N., & Crisp, J. (2013). Enhancing the resilience of nurses and midwives: Pilot of a mindfulnessbased program for increased health, sense of coherence and decreased depression, anxiety and stress. Contemporary nurse, 45(1), 114-125.
Freund, T., Everett, C., Griffiths, P., Hudon, C., Naccarella, L., & Laurant, M. (2015). Skill mix, roles and remuneration in the primary care workforce: who are the healthcare professionals in the primary care teams across the world?. International journal of nursing studies, 52(3), 727-743.
Freund, T., Everett, C., Griffiths, P., Hudon, C., Naccarella, L., & Laurant, M. (2015). Skill mix, roles and remuneration in the primary care workforce: who are the healthcare professionals in the primary care teams across the world?. International journal of nursing studies, 52(3), 727-743.
Goodman, M. J., & Schorling, J. B. (2012). A mindfulness course decreases burnout and improves well-being among healthcare providers. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 43(2), 119-128.
Ivers, N., Jamtvedt, G., Flottorp, S., Young, J. M., Odgaard?Jensen, J., French, S. D., … & Oxman, A. D. (2012). Audit and feedback: effects on professional practice and healthcare outcomes. The Cochrane Library.
Scott, I. A., Hilmer, S. N., Reeve, E., Potter, K., Le Couteur, D., Rigby, D., … & Jansen, J. (2015). Reducing inappropriate polypharmacy: the process of deprescribing. JAMA internal medicine, 175(5), 827-834.
Sherman, R. O., Chiang?Hanisko, L., & Koszalinski, R. (2013). The ageing nursing workforce: a global challenge. Journal of nursing management, 21(7), 899-902.
Williams, B., Brown, T., McKenna, L., Boyle, M. J., Palermo, C., Nestel, D., … & Russo, V. (2014). Empathy levels among health professional students: a cross-sectional study at two universities in Australia. Advances in medical education and practice, 5, 107.
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