Choosing a nursing career: Building an indigenous nursing workforce

Introduction: This paper provides an overview of the impact of government policy in supporting the growth of an Indigenous nursing workforce in New South Wales and Australia.Methods: Publically available nursing workforce performance reports along with current literature were reviewed to provide a perspective on the current situation.Results and discussion: The National partnership agreement on closing the gap in Indigenous health outcomes indicated that to improve Indigenous health outcomes, significant investment is required with particular reference to increasing an Indigenous workforce. As nurses comprise the majority of the health workforce a number of strategies and initiatives have been put in place to support this agreement. Even though there has been commitment through government policy and funding initiatives it is questionable if this is having any real impact on growing an Indigenous nursing workforce.Conclusions: Recruitment strategies that will increase the number of Indigenous nurses within the health workforce requires a multilevel approach. Despite efforts to increase Indigenous nursing workforce numbers, there has been limited impact to any real successful gains since 2008. Building and growing an Indigenous nursing workforce that will support the “Closing the Gap” initiative will require significant continuing effort.

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An ageing nursing workforce

Australian Health Review ◽

10.1071/ah09684 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 44 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Elizabeth M. Graham ◽

Christine Duffield

Keyword(s):

Government Policy ◽

Baby Boomer ◽

Working Life ◽

Current Status ◽

Nursing Workforce ◽

Retirement Age ◽

Retention Strategies ◽

Older Employees ◽

Functional Capabilities ◽

The Impact

There are well documented workforce shortages in nursing. Many strategies have been suggested to resolve the issue, including increasing migration or training places, changing skill mix or nurses’ roles, redesigning nursing work, and greater use of unregulated or unlicensed workers. One of the contributing and growing factors is the ageing of the workforce, but methods of retaining older employees have been given very little attention. This paper examines the impact of ageing on individuals, the ageing nursing workforce and the implications for government policy given its current status. What is known about the topic?A generation of ‘baby boomer’ nurses are reaching retirement age. The nursing workforce is in crisis due to there being less entrants to the workforce as a result of lower birth rates, wider choices of career, and nurses leaving the profession for less stressful, more satisfying jobs. What does this paper add?This paper outlines the necessity for the employment of retention strategies for older nurses in the workforce. It dispels myths about the functional capabilities of ageing nurses. What are the implications for practitioners?Health managers should canvass ageing nurses to discover strategies that would encourage them to extend their working life. Only then could it become feasible to plan practical solutions to ease the global nursing shortage.

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Positive psychology: hope and its role within mental health nursing

British Journal of Mental Health Nursing ◽

10.12968/bjmh.2021.0031 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Jan Macfarlane

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Positive Psychology ◽

Health Workforce ◽

Nursing Workforce ◽

Mental Health Nursing ◽

Positive Psychology Interventions ◽

Mental Health Workforce ◽

Health Nursing ◽

The Impact

This is the twelfth article in a series that explores the meaning of positive psychology and the impact it has on the wellbeing of the mental health workforce. It will focus on positive psychology interventions that help to develop hope and considers how its uplifting effect, through contemporary use in the field of mental health nursing, can be experienced. This article initially introduces the concept of hope then links it with the field of positive psychology. It then focuses on Snyder's theory of hope and its use in promoting wellbeing. It follows with the application of hope within the nursing context. Finally, it refers to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and how hope may be used to support the mental health nursing workforce. The practical activities provided in the article will help the reader increase their own awareness of hope and consider ways to develop its use and transferability within their own life..

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Popular EducationforAdult LiteracyandHealth DevelopmentinIndigenous Australia

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education ◽

10.1375/s1326011100000648 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 103-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Bob Boughton

Keyword(s):

Health Outcomes ◽

Adult Literacy ◽

Torres Strait Islander ◽

English Language ◽

Formal Education ◽

Indigenous Health ◽

Adult Population ◽

Mass Scale ◽

Torres Strait ◽

The Impact

AbstractThe focus of this paper is adult literacy, and the impact this has on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individual and community health. It directs attention to those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and adults who have not benefited from the formal school education system, and who, as a consequence, have very low levels of basic English language literacy. Analysing data from a range of sources, I suggest that these people comprise as much as 35% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population nationally, and a much bigger proportion in some communities and regions. Moreover, they are key to improving overall health outcomes in the population as a whole, because they are among the people most at risk. Drawing on research in countries of the global South over recent decades, the paper then suggests that one of the most effective ways to improve health outcomes and foster health development is through a popular mass adult literacy campaign. Popular education is not formal education, of the kind provided by schools, TAFEs and universities. It is “non-formal” education, provided on a mass scale, to people in marginalised and disadvantaged communities, as part of wider social and political movements for equality. The paper concludes that this is the most appropriate form of education to deal with the massive social and economic inequality at the heart of the social determinants of Indigenous health.

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Drop the Salt! Assessing the impact of a public health advocacy strategy on Australian government policy on salt

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s1368980012004806 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 212-218 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jacqui Webster ◽

Elizabeth Dunford ◽

Sarah Kennington ◽

Bruce Neal ◽

Simon Chapman

Keyword(s):

Government Policy ◽

Salt Intake ◽

Stakeholder Analysis ◽

Australian Government ◽

Dietary Salt ◽

Potential Health ◽

Salt Reduction ◽

South Wales ◽

Public Health Advocacy ◽

The Impact

AbstractObjectiveIn 2007 the Australian Division of World Action on Salt and Health (AWASH) launched a campaign to encourage the Australian government to take action to reduce population salt intake. The objective of the present research was to assess the impact of the Drop the Salt! campaign on government policy.DesignA review of government activities related to salt reduction was conducted and an advocacy strategy implemented to increase government action on salt. Advocacy actions were documented and the resulting outcomes identified. An analysis of stakeholder views on the effectiveness of the advocacy strategy was also undertaken.SettingsAdvocacy activities were coordinated through AWASH at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney.SubjectsAll relevant State and Federal government statements and actions were reviewed and thirteen stakeholders with known interests or responsibilities regarding dietary salt, including food industry, government and health organisations, were interviewed.ResultsStakeholder analysis affirmed that AWASH influenced the government's agenda on salt reduction and four key outputs were attributed to the campaign: (i) the Food Regulation Standing Committee discussions on salt, (ii) the Food and Health Dialogue salt targets, (iii) National Health and Medical Research Council partnership funding and (iv) the New South Wales Premier's Forum on Fast Foods.ConclusionsWhile it is not possible to definitively attribute changes in government policy to one organisation, stakeholder research indicated that the AWASH campaign increased the priority of salt reduction on the government's agenda. However, a coordinated government strategy on salt reduction is still required to ensure that the potential health benefits are fully realised.

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Intersectoral Health Human Resource Policy: The Impact on Population Health Outcomes

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e509012013-095 ◽

2004 ◽

Author(s):

Jane Underwood ◽

Andrea Baumann ◽

Jennifer Blythe

Keyword(s):

Health Outcomes ◽

Population Health ◽

Human Resource ◽

Health Human Resource ◽

Human Resource Policy ◽

Resource Policy ◽

The Impact

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The ‘Modernisation’ of Scotland and its Impact on Glasgow, 1955–1979: ‘Unwanted Side Effects’ and Vulnerabilities

Scottish Affairs ◽

10.3366/scot.2016.0137 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 294-316 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Chik Collins ◽

Ian Levitt

Keyword(s):

Side Effects ◽

Government Policy ◽

Regional Policy ◽

Excess Mortality ◽

Policy Agenda ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Uk Government ◽

1960S And 1970S ◽

The 1960S ◽

The Impact

This article reports findings of research into the far-reaching plan to ‘modernise’ the Scottish economy, which emerged from the mid-late 1950s and was formally adopted by government in the early 1960s. It shows the growing awareness amongst policy-makers from the mid-1960s as to the profoundly deleterious effects the implementation of the plan was having on Glasgow. By 1971 these effects were understood to be substantial with likely severe consequences for the future. Nonetheless, there was no proportionate adjustment to the regional policy which was creating these understood ‘unwanted’ outcomes, even when such was proposed by the Secretary of State for Scotland. After presenting these findings, the paper offers some consideration as to their relevance to the task of accounting for Glasgow's ‘excess mortality’. It is suggested that regional policy can be seen to have contributed to the accumulation of ‘vulnerabilities’, particularly in Glasgow but also more widely in Scotland, during the 1960s and 1970s, and that the impact of the post-1979 UK government policy agenda on these vulnerabilities is likely to have been salient in the increase in ‘excess mortality’ evident in subsequent years.

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The Impact of Social Mobilization on Health Service Delivery and Health Outcomes

10.1093/oso/9780198829591.003.0011 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Xavier Giné ◽

Salma Khalid ◽

Mansuri Ghazala

Keyword(s):

Health Services ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Health Workers ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Health Providers ◽

Child Health Outcomes ◽

Rural Pakistan ◽

Post Natal Care ◽

The Impact

This chapter uses a randomized community development programme in rural Pakistan to assess the impact of citizen engagement on public service delivery and maternal and child health outcomes. The programme had a strong emphasis on organizing women, who also identified health services as a development priority at baseline. At midline, we find that the mobilization effort alone had a significant impact on the performance of village-based health providers. We detect economically large improvements in pregnancy and well-baby visits by female health workers, as well as increased utilization of pre- and post-natal care by pregnant women. In contrast, the quality of supra-village health services did not improve, underscoring the importance of community enforcement and monitoring capacity for improving service delivery.

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