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Written essay, advanced nursing practice in action

At a Watershed : Advanced nursing practice in Australia

There is no more gratifying labor in health care than nursing . The nurses have always been on the front line in a struggle for sound mankind . Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary identifies nurse as "a person trained and experienced in nursing matters and entrusted with the care of the sick and the carrying out of medical and surgical routines "Nurse . This is true , but gives misdescription of this medical profession whose scope is much wider and complex

Nursing is the largest health profession in Australia . Since

the middle of the 80s last century the relatively stable , although the occupational composition has changed registered nurses showed growth in comparison with enrolled ones . The recent reports by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare demonstrated such a tendency (qtd . in Hilless Healy 64 . Despite of this fact we witness Australia-wide shortage of nurses , with no signs of improvement for many years running (Iliffe 4 . One can say that nursing practice in Australia is at a watershed of its development . The outcome would depend on what public affairs will be undertaken to overcome the present situation . The issue involves the necessity to implement advanced nursing practices , to lift up prestige of the profession , to review the system of remuneration of labor , to improve education standards as well . To find the ways to success in advanced practice of nursing in Australia we should examine its current position , indicators of quality , political and industrial contexts , and educational requirements , analyze them and make the conclusions

Making the considerable part of medical professional workers , nursing in Australia seems to form an image of health care system to a considerable degree . The community holds the Australian nurses in a high regard which reflects in "very positive public image " of this profession (Iliffe 5 But the very serious issue of shortages "in many areas of nursing principally operating theatre , critical and intensive care , accident and emergency , cardiothoracic , neonatal care , midwifery and mental health (qtd . in Hilless Healy 64 ) contributed to some loss of health care services provide by advanced nurses due to associated excess workload combined with an ageing nursing workforce (Levett 3 . For instance "in 1998 , there were 9 .5 nurses per 1000 population in Australia , which is around the middle range for western European countries [ .] , but slightly more than in Canada and the USA (Hilless and Healy 64 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 1999 reported that the public hospitals were the largest contributors to nurses ' occupancy in the Commonwealth at a rate of 47 while 82 from a nurses were registered ones (qtd . in Hilless Healy 64 . That means that Australia in fact has positive result in increasing number of highly qualified professionals in nursing

The Federal Government recently pays much attention to this sector of health care . It defined nursing as a national priority area provided scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education funded the clinical component of nursing courses (Iliffe 4 . But government 's efforts...

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