The Current State of the Australian Healthcare Sector

Discuss about the Dynamic Analysis Of The Demand For Health Insurance.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, currently the Australian healthcare and social care-assistance service employs more than 1,500,000 individuals and this number makes 14% of the entire workforce of in Australia (ABS 2018). However, in this leading healthcare world healthcare perspective, the number of healthcare professional leaving their jobs due to present barriers and limitations is increasing drastically. Therefore, the current job prospect in healthcare sector bears tremendous opportunity. Despite of the incidences of healthcare experts resigning from their job roles, Australian labor market provides better career opportunity with good remuneration (Shen et al. 2014). There are several sectors currently present in the Australian healthcare, such as aged care sector, community healthcare, mental healthcare, private healthcare, and disability care service. These healthcare sectors comprise more than 90% of the healthcare facilities currently working in Australia. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, this sector or labor market is currently bears maximum amount of people aged over 35 hence, the need for fresher and young employees is maximum in healthcare (ABS 2018). This assignment will be discussing about aged care sector and mental healthcare sector as the leading job market in Australian healthcare perspective and will discuss the reason of choosing these sectors as the viable option of the career prospect. Further the Australian labor market trends, its intellectual challenges, and future recommendations will be presented.

The health care and the social assistance industry in Australia employ more than 1.4 people in different sectors. Diseases caused by the pathogens have changed their course and have taken more complicated for. The health care has become the largest growth industry in Australia by the year 2017 (Bolhaar et al. 2014). The average annual growth rate in the health care sectors is about 4.0 percent which about double the growth rate across all the industries (Labour Market Research – Nurses Australia, 2018).

Among the top ten professions in the health care industry, the number of currently employed registered nurses around Australia is 260,300, followed by the aged and the disabled carers which are about 153,200; the total number of the employed child carers around Australia is about 114,700 (Labour Market Research – Nurses Australia, 2018). The health care and the social assistance can be divided in to some sectors. One of the largest contributors to the employment in the health care sector is the aged care service. Residential aged care service has made the second largest contributor to employment (Labour Market Research – Nurses Australia, 2018). The employment in the residential care sectors has shown the largest growth over the past few years. According to the surveys conducted by the Department of Employment, there had been shortage of skilled staffs in the health care sector.  According to McDowall (2013) shortage are not the feature of the Australian labor market currently, yet few occupations with significant employment have shortages of staffs. Widespread shortages have been observed for the physiotherapists, child care workers and the midwives, aged care and physiotherapist. Such shortage of staffs may account for employment in the health care sectors. Australia’s universal health care system is under pressure (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018).

Career Prospects in Aged Care Sector

Source: (Labour Market Research – Nurses Australia, 2018)

Compared to the other countries, the health care system of Australia ranks high. It ranks seventh in life expectancy. Australians are expected to live longer but the growing population of the baby boomers puts more pressure upon the health care sector (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). An older population will significantly suffer from chronic as well as other degenerative diseases that would require more follow up care and more hospital stay. The retirement of the older Australian will shrink the labor force and there would be low tax revenue to pay for the health services of the graying population. The medical and the health care industry is the largest employer in the Australian market. The ageing population and the increasing investment in the mental health service are leading to strong demand for skilled candidates.

The greater need of the aged care is not only due to the growing aged population, but a large portion of the population will be retiring in the next few years. Therefore this sector has a potential for a long term career growth (McDowall 2013). The aged care residential service provides a wide range of services and accommodation option with proper GP services and ambulatory care. The government funding and the flexible pricing have driven the augmentation in this industry. The investors have also become attracted to this sector as the demand is continuously rising for the development of new facilities. Other aged care services are aged care homes, retirement villages, home care packages, after hospital care facilities, carer counseling. There are also retirement villages that provide accommodation as well as other life care facilities in lieu of costs. The residents are continuously demanding for a seamless transition of the different stages of care . Reportedly the revenue for the aged care residential facilities is expected to increase to $27.8 billion by 2022-23 (McGeorge 2012). This is because the ageing population of Australia would require more treatment regimens for the older people. Demand of palliative acute care nurses also increases the job opportunities as the acute care nurses have to work frontline with the nurses to take decisions for a terminally ill patient. Patients are now health care consumers. The success of the evidence based practice among the nurses in aged care has increased their demand as they have moved beyond their professional boundaries to provide safe care to the patient (McGeorge 2012). All these aged care facilities have ambulatory care facilities, 24 hours GP services, Community nurses, personal care or community care workers, allied health care professional workers such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Apart from registered nurses and enrolled nurse, there are also some allied health care career opportunities in aged care (McGeorge 2012). The increase in the community direct care workforce would attract people in to aged care. All these have opened up the career options in aged care. In spite of all these the Australia’s ageing population still poses a challenge to the current government funding plan and the policies. Revenue growth is expected in the coming years.

Career Prospects in Mental Healthcare Sector

Mental health is a major concern for Australian government as every fifth person in Australian population is affected with mental illness. According to the statistical data more than 14% of Australians are affected with depression, anxiety and mental illness and the rate is expected to increase with 2% every year (ABS 2018). As Australia has a federal government, each territories and provinces have their own legislation regarding mental healthcare and according to the healthcare department of the Australian government, the mental healthcare settings has increased by 55%. However, the number of healthcare experts resigning their jobs has created a situation of crisis in the healthcare department of Australia. Further, as the number of mentally ill patient is increasing, treatment of them has become difficult as the ratio of healthcare experts to patients is increasing and they are unable to access quality healthcare (Shen et al. 2014). Therefore, this healthcare sector has been chosen as the viable option for career path in the Australian labor market. Further, unlike private or public registered nurses career prospect, the mental healthcare is spread in numerous aspects and career options can vary from mental healthcare nurse, to informal care facility, family care giver, and mental healthcare private nurse. Therefore the chances of profession related burnouts are very less in this career opportunity. Further, other social aspects of this job such as clinical counselling, marriage or family therapist, prospect of social work as mental clinical support, psychiatric nurse, and mental health counsellor (Whitford, Smith and Newbury 2012). These can be an alternate option in case of hospital related burn outs. However, while choosing a mental healthcare related career there are several aspects that should be properly assessed. Further, as the career opportunity is vast, there is a chance of stagnant career in this job prospect. However, the good remuneration and stress free working environment has made this career option as one of the leading career trends in the Australian career opportunity trends.Therefore, while choosing this career option each aspect should be assessed (Stevens, Browne and Graham 2013).

One of the wonderful aspects of studying abroad is the opportunity to get introduced to new cultures. Students return from abroad with new experiences,, new cultures, food, models ,science and more. One of the intercultural issues is the cultural shock faced by the international students. Feeling of loneliness, nervousness is common in students facing cultural shock (Lloyd and Härtel 2010).

Challenges Faced by Healthcare Professionals in Australia

International students find it different to fit in to the contemporary trend of the university. Linguistic barrier, cultural expectations comes into play that hinders the intercultural communication.  Language can be a significant barrier face intercultural challenges while interacting with the other students and teachers. Furthermore different academic settings have different levels of stress and expectations that can be concerning for the international students. In order to overcome these challenges, it is essential to seek out the activities that help the student to integrate in the college social activities (Lloyd and Härtel 2010). Intercultural challenges can affect the career opportunities as intercultural miscommunication can arise from the interaction between the health care professionals or the future nurses as the professional behavior of the nurses are influenced by their cultural roots (Henderson et al. 2012). In fact intercultural challenge may act as barriers between the students and the nurse educators. Each and every culture is imbibed with its tradition and religious beliefs.  In order to provide a safe care to culturally diversified background the nurses need to inculcate new cultures and should increase the cultural awareness. Cultural awareness is understanding or acceptance towards new culture for supporting a negotiated process of care to the people across languages and cultures (Henderson et al. 2012). In order to overcome the intercultural issues the activities that can help the students are diversified study groups, provision of student club and associations, volunteer opportunities, academic clubs, off campus activities, student center, fraternities and sororities (Henderson et al. 2012).

Since my choice of career option is nursing and the demand for the nurses is increasing in the field of aged and mental health care, I have chosen three organizations that can help to maximize my job opportunities.

Australian college of nursing (ACN) is an organization for the dynamic and the passionate nurses. They provide knowledge of advanced nursing leadership for enhancing the health care services to the population.  The high performance passionate team has got four operational divisions like support, education, Commercial and professional division (Australian College of Nursing, 2018). This makes this organization unique and suitable to my career.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation is the largest union in Australia believes in providing high quality and affordable care to the Australians. Any registered or the enrolled nurses are eligible to be a part of the union. It also helps the graduate nurses to gain employment when they have completed their career (Anmf.org.au, 2018). The suitable location of the organization and its opportunities makes it the suitable option for the growth of my career.

Intercultural Challenges for International Students in Healthcare

The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) is one of the peak professional bodies of nurses in Australia. APNA provides the scope of continuous professional development among the nurses. For improving and broaden the knowledge of the nurses. The organization trains the nurses to provide primary health care to individuals, families and the communities (Apna.asn.au, 2018).

Current goals	Target date
·         To increase my communication skills ·         To increase my capability of forming interpersonal relationship with the patient. ·         To handle conflict and resolve problems. ·         to deliver a safe care ·         To work in a team environment ·         To have the ability to deal with complex care situations. ·         To become a professional registered nurse	Within 6 months

Benefits of achieving the goals

The profession of nursing is just not a profession but is about ethics and trust that develops between a patient and the caregiver and its also about the contribution that a nurse makes to the society (Shen et al. 2012). My nursing career would certainly help me and my family in terms of financial help but will also keep a caregiver (me) in close proximity to my family and friends in case any medical emergency arises.

Possible obstacles for achieving the goal

·         Cultural differences ·         Cultural diversity ·         Social stigma and the perception of the society. ·         Entrance exams ·         Lack of proper nursing organizations.

Actions for achieving the goal

·         Development of proper leadership skills ·         Development of communication and interpersonal skills ·         Development of critical and analytical thinking skills ·         Development of teamwork skills. ·         To provide a holistic care of approach

Conclusion

The health care industry have seen a strong growth over the past decade, due to the increase in the ageing population, increased life expectancy due to widespread medical advances and the growing ageing population. The aged care and the mental health care have been found as the most promising sectors for the career development. Different repudiated nursing organizations such as Australian college of nursing, APNA and ACN can enhance the career opportunities. A proper career planning can help to overcome the intercultural differences among the international students and flourish their nursing career.

References

ABS 2018. Analysis of trends in the Australian labour market. [online] Department of Jobs and Small Business. Available at: https://www.jobs.gov.au/annual-report-2016/analysis-trends-australian-labour-market [Accessed 28 Mar. 2018].

Anmf.org.au. (2018). Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation. [online] Available at: https://anmf.org.au/professional-landing [Accessed 28 Mar. 2018].

Apna.asn.au. (2018). Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) is the peak professional body for nurses working in primary health care.. [online] Available at: https://www.apna.asn.au/ [Accessed 28 Mar. 2018].

Australian College of Nursing. (2018).  Australian College of Nursing. [online] Available at: https://www.acn.edu.au/ [Accessed 28 Mar. 2018].

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2018). Reports & statistics – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. [online] Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-statistics [Accessed 28 Mar. 2018].

Bolhaar, J., Lindeboom, M. and Van Der Klaauw, B., 2012. A dynamic analysis of the demand for health insurance and health care. European Economic Review, 56(4), pp.669-690.

Folland, S., Goodman, A.C. and Stano, M., 2016. The Economics of Health and Health Care: Pearson International Edition. Routledge.

Henderson, S., Barker, M. and Mak, A., 2016. Strategies used by nurses, academics and students to overcome intercultural communication challenges. Nurse education in practice, 16(1), pp.71-78.

Labour Market Research – Nurses Australia. (2018). [ebook] Australian government Department of employment. Available at: https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/ausnurses_1.pdf [Accessed 28 Mar. 2018].

Lloyd, S. and Härtel, C., 2010. Intercultural competencies for culturally diverse work teams. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(8), pp.845-875.

McDowall, J.J., 2013. Experiencing out-of-home care in Australia. The views of children and young people (CREATE Report Card 2013). Sydney: CREATE Foundation.

McGeorge, P., 2012. Lessons learned in developing community mental health care in Australasia and the South Pacific. World Psychiatry, 11(2), pp.129-132.

Shen, G., Fois, R., Nissen, L. and Saini, B., 2014. Course experiences, satisfaction and career intent of final year pre-registration Australian pharmacy students. Pharmacy practice, 12(2).

Stevens, J., Browne, G. and Graham, I., 2013. Career in mental health still an unlikely career choice for nursing graduates: A replicated longitudinal study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 22(3), pp.213-220.

Whitford, D., Smith, T. and Newbury, J., 2012. The South Australian Allied Health Workforce survey: helping to fill the evidence gap in primary health workforce planning. Australian journal of primary health, 18(3), pp.234-241.