Models Of Health Service In Remote Isolated Areas Of Queensland

Discussion

The individuals who live in rural areas face challenges accessing healthcare. The provision of health service in rural or remote areas of Australia is a continuing area of concern for the state. The remote and isolated places are represented by small populations that are spread over long distances. The nurses in Australia have a long history of providing healthcare in these remote areas. The study was prompted by a need to know the current models of the delivery  of health service in the rural areas. It also portrays the work of the nurses and their service delivery in these isolated areas of Australia. The model of care identified is demonstrated in a case study design. The article, “Models of health service in remote isolated areas of Queensland” by Melanie et al discusses how healthcare is provided in the remote and isolated areas of Australia. Most of the nurses in the remote and isolated areas of Australia provide primary care to the individuals living in these geographical areas. The primary care services include both the early intervention and prevention of the diseases that affect the individuals in these areas. The paper discusses how the nurses are involved in the provision of primary care and health service in these isolated areas of Queensland.

The main issue that will be discussed in the article is how healthcare is provided in the rural and isolated areas of Australia. The article will also discuss the types of health care that are provided by the nurses in these remote areas. The paper also provides the framework for understanding the health problems that people in the rural areas face and how the nurses help them cope with them. The model of service delivery is constructed on the assessment of the needs of the community, the modes of delivery and the available resources (Idema, 2015). The paper assumes that models of care and those of service delivery are linked.

Most nurses provide primary care in the rural areas although they also practice secondary and tertiary care. The primary care involves the provision of services such as family planning, immunizations, health screening and other conditions such as coughs and cold (Augusterfer, 2017). The nurses located in remote areas also refer the patients to areas where they may obtain secondary care. The secondary care provided would involve the early detection of the disease and its treatment as well as other therapeutic interventions (Buykx et al, 2012). The nurses also cater for the treatment of the ailments that do not require a lot of attention. In case they find a person from the remote area suffering from a given serious condition, they send them to a higher medical institution where the can obtain help. The nurses also help the individuals to engage in self-care and find health solutions that promote their well-being and which are cost effective. They teach them ways of preventing diseases and promoting their well-being. The primary care provided also helps the citizens in the remote areas to incorporate the resources in a universal way. The health workers working in these remote areas are either the members of the community who are trained or non-residents of the area. The health workers work as a team in order to ensure that they provide the best are to the citizens living in the remote areas (Campbell, 2012). The teams who are not residents work together with the residents to ensure that the provide health care to individuals in the remote and isolated areas who find it difficult to access health care.

Details of the Case

The members of the isolated areas are also provided with tertiary care by the doctors who are available. The tertiary care would involve the treatment of problems that had resulted to serious damage on the individual (Francis et al, 2014). The treatment would be a long term process since the problem may have escalated and resulted in physiological damage. Many people in the remote areas find it difficult to employ and retain medical staff and thus the efforts of the government are required in ensuring that the citizens acquire the right attention when the need arise. Numerous practices and models of service delivery have been attempted in the rural areas (Mitton et al, 2011). The individuals who have complications that are serious and cannot be solved in the rural areas are often sent to the urban areas where they can seek medical assistance. It is not always easy to transfer individuals from the rural areas to the urban areas because they are often used to living the remote areas. The action can be done by the medical professionals who are determined to the help the person. The health officials with the assistance of the government may help the sick person to acquire medical attention from a more specialized hospital. In addition to this, more medical centers are being started in the rural areas to ensure that even those people who live in the remote areas mange to access healthcare at an affordable rate. The government also plans to hire more nurses who would see to it that the people located in the rural remote areas can find medical help whenever the need arises.

The case presented shows how health care is provided in remote and isolated areas. It shows how the nurses’ work together with the doctors and the members of the society to ensure that health care is provided in the remote and isolated areas of Australia. It shows the levels of care that is provided to individuals to ensure that the access health care. The case shows how doctors and nurses work as a team to ensure that they provide health care to individuals in the isolated areas. The case shows the efforts that the nurses, the medical professionals and the government make towards ensuring that the citizens living in the remote areas get the medical assistance that they deserve. The case shows the types of medical care that the nurses provide to the people who live in the remote areas. The nurses often refer the patients to the doctors who are highly trained for any treatment that requires specialized care.

The discussion relates to Wakerman’s definition of remote health in that it shows how the access to health services becomes difficult as one moves away from the major cities. He shows how people in the rural areas find it difficult to access healthcare as compared to those living in the cities (Wakerman et al, 2009). He also shows the need for intervention so that individuals living in the remote areas can also access easy health services as their counterparts who live in town. The Australian government has considered that as an area of concern and is thus working towards ensuring that all the citizens access healthcare regardless of their geographical location (Bourke et al, 2012). The provision of more primary care helps the individuals in remote areas to access care even if they are far away from town. The nurses are sent from the town to go and offer treatment to the individuals in the remote areas. Giving more primary health care to the patients would enable them to get quick recovery for their ailments. It is also important for the nurses to send the citizens in the remote areas who fall sick to go and get advanced treatment in the advanced areas (Melanie et al, ND)

The nurses divide themselves into various groups according to the areas that they are specialized in. In this manner, they manage to help the individuals who suffer from various ailments and are having difficulties accessing treatment. The nurses ensure that the resources that are to be provided are available so that they may provide the right help to the members of the remote communities (Humphreys et al, 2009). The registered nurses also provide secondary care to the patients to ensure that they get all the assistance that they require. The registered nurse is more trained to deal with the health issues of the members of the remote community than the other individuals who are not residents (Smith, 2016). The registered nurses often treat them to the point of their healthy needs as opposed to the nonresidential nurses who may not know much about their health needs (Timby & Barbara, 2008). The case involves the efforts that the nurses make towards ensuring that the individuals in the remote areas manage to access health care. They ensure that people who live far away from the city get the medical assistance that they require. People living in the remote areas often have low income and as such they require assistance from the government to assist them so that they may acquire medical attention (Augusterfer, 2017).

The article shows how the government puts efforts to cater for the medical needs of the individuals living in the remote areas by sending nurses and other medical professionals to attend to them. The article shows how the nurses offer both primary and secondary health care to the individuals in the remote areas to ensure that their health needs are met (Daly et al, 2010). The paper also shows the role of a registered nurse who is based on the rural remote areas where it is difficult to access medical facilities. Nurses can work individually or as a team to ensure that they provide the right medical attention to the patients (Cramer, 2006). The article shows how the nurses work in the areas where they are not used to so that they may help the people living in the remote areas. Even the nurses who are not residents join together with the others to work as a team towards assisting the citizens who live in the remote areas.

The government should ensure that it employs more nurses in the remote areas so that they can cater for the needs of the people in these areas. The nurses should also be determined to help the individuals in these areas so that they may access treatment at the right time. The doctors should also work as a team to ensure that they help the people living in rural remote areas who need the medical attention. The government also needs to establish more medical institutions to ensure that all the individuals living in the rural remote areas are catered for in terms of their health. It is also essential for the nurses to encourage patients living in the rural areas to exercise self-care so that they may avoid getting sicknesses that may be avoided. Individuals living in the rural areas should also take it upon themselves to take care of their health. The medical professionals should also ensure that they give attention to all the citizens including those living in the rural remote areas. The members of the community should also offer to learn as nurses so that they may help their friends who find it difficult to access medical care (Goldfeld, 2012). The individuals living in these remote places should work towards ensuring that they have the medical attention that they need without being compelled. They should also take a personal responsibility of their health to ensure that they can access medical care when the need arises. The government should ensure that the medical centers that are in the rural remote areas have all the facilities necessary for treating the individuals who fall sick in these areas. It should ensure that the citizens living in the remote areas access the medical facilities that they require. The action would help ensure that they do not have to travel to the city to access medical attention.

The government should also ensure that it employs qualified doctors who can handle the diseases that seem more severe (Hoodless, 2008). The action would help ensure that the people living in the remote areas do not have difficulties trying to look for experienced medical practitioners in town. It would also make it easy for the family members in the remote areas who have very sick individuals to access medical care. The government should ensure that the infrastructure is okay so that it may facilitate the easy transfer of patients who get very sick to other hospitals (Harris et al, 2006). Good infrastructure in the rural area would enhance an easy transport of doctors and patients from one hospital to the other when the need arises.

The government should also ensure that the health workers are spread all over the remote areas so that they may cater for the need of the individuals in every region of the rural area. It should ensure that it has spread the nurses and doctors in all the medical centers in the rural areas so that the people in remote areas may access treatment easily. The medical practitioners should be enough in the rural areas so that each individual that requires medical attention can acquire it with immediate effect.

Conclusion

People who live in the rural and remote areas often find it difficult to access medical attention. Sometimes they lack the means to get treatment or they may also lack qualified doctors to help them acquire the right treatment. The government of Australia is making an effort to ensure that even the people who live in the rural remote areas access medical attention. The government should also ensure that there are enough nurses and doctors to treat the people in rural areas. The nurses offer primary and secondary health care to the patients living in the remote rural areas. The doctors and nurses work as a team to ensure that the citizens living in the rural remote areas access the medical care that they require. The medical professionals are also making efforts to ensure that the people living in these remote areas access the medical attention that they require. The government of Australia is making efforts to access the medical facilities in the hospitals in the rural areas so that it may make it possible to treat the citizens from the remote areas. It will be easy for the individuals living in these areas to access treatment in the near future since their needs will be catered for.

References

Augusterfer, E. F. (2017). Telemental health in resource-limited global settings. Oxford University Press

Bourke, L, Humphreys, Js Wakerman J & Talor j (2012) Understanding rural and remote health: a framework for analysis in Australia Elsevier

Buykx, P., Humphreys, J. S., Tham, R., Kinsman, L., Wakerman, J, Asaid, A., & Tuohey, K. (2012). How do small rural primary health care services sustain themselves in a constantly changing health system environment?. BMC Health Services Research, 12(1), 81 

Campbell, N., McAllister, L., & Eley, D. S. (2012). The influence of motivation in recruitment and retention of rural and remote allied health professionals: a literature review. Rural and remote health, 12(3), 1-15

Cramer, J.H.(2006). Amorphous practice: nursing in a remote Indigenous community of Australia. Contemporary Nurse, 22(2):191 202.

Daly, J., Speedy, S., & Jackson, D. (2010). Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Sydney: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier Australia. 

Francis, K, Chapman Y & Davis, C, (2014). Rural Nursing, the Australian context, Cambridge University Press

Goldfeld, S., O’connor, M., Sayers, M., Moore, T., & Oberklaid, F. (2012). Prevalence and correlates of special health care needs in a population cohort of Australian children at school entry, Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 33(4), 319-327

Hoodless, M., Bourke, L, and Evans, F, (2008).  Quality of Rural Primary Health Care: Including the Consumer. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 14(2):82?88.

Harris, M. G., Australian, C. H. S. E., & Society, . H. A. P. E. (2006). Managing health services: concepts and practice. Sydney: Mosby Elsevier. 

Humphreys, J., Wakerman, J., Kuipers, P., Wells, R., Russell, D., Siegloff, S., & Homer, K. (2009), Improving workforce retention: Developing an integrated logic model to maximize sustainability of small rural and remote health care services. Canberra:  Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute.

Idema R, Piper, D & Manidis, M. (2015). Communicating quality and safety in health care  Cambridge University Press 

Mitton, C., Dionne, F., Masucci, L., Wong, S., & Law, S. (2011). Innovations in health service organization and delivery in northern rural and remote regions: a review of the literature. International Journal Of Circumpolar Health, 70(5), 460-472

Melanie, B, Jane, M, Karen, Meaghan, C, Jenny, D & Jan.(ND). Models of health service delivery in remote or isolated areas of Queensland: a multiple case study. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1)

Smith, J. D. (2016). Australia’s rural, remote and Indigenous health: A social determinant perspective, Chatswood, N.S.W. Elsevier Australia 

Timby, Barbara K, (2008). Fundamental nursing skills and concepts Ninth ed. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins

Walsh, J., Harrison, J. D., Young, J. M., Butow, P, N., Solomon, M. J., & Masya, L. (2010). What are the current barriers to effective cancer care coordination? A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 10(1), 132.

Wakerman, J. Humphreys, J. S., Wells, R., Kuipers, P., Jones, J. A., Entwistle, P., & Kinsman, L (2009). Features of effective primary health care models in rural and remote Australia: a case-study analysis. The Medical Journal of Australia, 191(2), 88-91.