Assessment of Australian Nursing Workforce †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Assessment of Australian Nursing Workforce. Answer: Introduction Definition of the issue Australian Health Workforce Sustainability report indicates that the industry faces some significant challenges related to retention and productivity of nurses in the sector. Due to aging population, changing health trends, and customer expectation, the demands of healthcare services are rapidly increasing. However, in order to meet those increasing demands, the healthcare organizations require nurses that are more skilled or the workforce but aging nursing workforce and poor retention rate remains as the major challenges to the healthcare organizations in Australia. This means that even if the organizations wish to train their nurses to meet the growing demands but preparing the aging workforce may be a waste of investment because the aging nursing workforce has the high rate of retirements Rationale It is uncertain whether the healthcare organizations are able to provide the desired healthcare service to the patients. The report is conducted to enhance the current nursing workforce of healthcare organization of Australia to meet the growing healthcare service demands. Summary of the assignment questions A set of questions designed for the assessment is about how the nursing workforce development. This questions demand an updated workforce profile on the nursing workforce of Australia by updating few relevant tables. In addition, the questions also talk about whether the findings from the recent materials such as whether the supply of workforce has improved or the characteristic of the nurse have changed. The questions demand an environmental analysis on nursing workforce of Australia to determine the present and future status of overall nursing workforce. Section of the report summarized The report provides a detailed assessment of how the originations in the healthcare sector of Australia will fulfill their nursing requirements to meet the growing demands of healthcare services. The introductory section of the report provides an overview of the report and likewise, the nature and the extent of the issues have been discussed. As the response of the questions, an updated workforce profile has been provided. Nature and extent of the issues As put forward by Perry et al., (2015) there is a proper storm strengthening in healthcare industry of Australia. As the baby boomers generation continues to grow and they might have more extensive healthcare needs but the question is how many nurses are baby boomers who would be in that same zone. It is certain that as the pupation increase, the access to healthcare also increase and more nurses go towards the retirement, which indicates a significant shortage of skilled nurses. Therefore, to resolve or prevent the issue in adopting an extending form, the report discuses how healthcare organizations or nursing school can implement the actions to resolve the shortage. Response to the questions 1a) Workforce characteristic 2008 2009 2015 Headcount 225,040 238,520 360,000 FTE nurses 198,924 212,659 234,342 FTE per 100,000 population 905.9 936.4 987.9 Male proportion 9.8 10.4 13.4 Average age (years) 44.2 44.3 44.7 Proportion aged 50+ (%) - 37.7 - 1b) Workforce characteristic 2009 2012 2015 Headcount 51,711 51,624 62,575 FTE nurses 43,614 42,467 45,744 FTE per 100,000 population 198.2 187.0 221.1 Male proportion 8.9 9.2 9.7 Average age (years) 44.9 46.0 53.3 Proportion aged 55+ (%) - 45.5 - 1c) Workforce characteristic 2009 2012 2015 Headcount 276,751 290,144 278,987 FTE nurses 242,521 255,174 287.987 FTE per 100,000 population 1,104.1 1,123.6 1508.0 Male proportion 9.6 10.2 10.01 Average age (years) 44.3 44.6 47.9 Proportion aged 55+ (%) 36.3 39.1 38.9 The workforce profile indicates that the strength of nursing workforce is increasing. Particularly, between 2012 to 2015, there is a slight growth occurred in the number of workforce in both 25 to 34 age group and 5 and over group (Health.gov.au. 2018). It is also identified that between 2011 and 2015, there are more employed nurses in 50-54 years age group compared to any other group. The following figure shows the employee nurses, indigenous proportion, state and territories. The statistic indicates that overall nursing workforce strength in Australia has increased compared to figure recorded in 200, 2010 and 2012 (Health.gov.au 2018). Even though, the demands of healthcare services increasing, the organizations have also been meeting the workforce requirements by extending the characteristic and the types of jobs. By observing the demands of healthcare services, different posts and characteristics of the nurses have been created which, to some extent, help employers to provide and maintain desired healthcare services. The increasing figure of total number of nursing workforce indicate that the supply of workforce and characteristics of nursing workforce has improved as the statistical data indicates that there are nurse with different characteristics such as eye healthcare staff and dentist labor force As put forward by Buchan et al, (2015), as individuals live and beyond their 80s, it is observed that they have a high chance of living with multiple chronic conditions and experiencing limitations functionality. This combination makes it clear that people with such growing age may require more care both in acute as well as long-term setting. Lenthall et al., (2011) commented that such as increasing needs are estimated to place a potential strain on the current resources of the healthcare industry. As put forward by Perry et al., (2015), the world entered a period of scarcity for human resources in healthcare sector, which further influences the health population in Australia. Particularly, the shortage of deserving or qualified health professionals such as nurse is now one of the significant challenges to achieve the millennium development goals. Thus, to respond to this shortage the International Council of Nurses introduced the Global Workforce Project; however, due to aging population in nursing workforce this shortage is yet to be mitigated as there is an increasing percentage of nursing workforce heading towards to the retirement. On the other side, Duffield et al., (2015) commented that in coming years, especially the period during 2013-2025, there would be an increasing shortage of registered nurses across Australia. It is identified that even though the economic downturn has slowed or delayed the retirement plans for some particular nurses, analysts estimate that such trends can only be considered as the temporary trends. Thereby, Jacob, McKenna and D'amore (2015) motioned that by 2025 it is estimated that healthcare industry in Australia will observe a significant shortage, which would be twice as large as any nursing shortage ever experienced in the nations since 1960. A study conducted by Buchan et al., (2015), and released in 2014, that downplayed the retirements trends and statistics provided in the report indicates that several nurses observed to be working past expected retirement age. This article also mentioned that nearly two-thirds of nurse older than 54 are considering the retirements, where almost 63% of total nursing workforces are developing the plans of retirements in coming three years. From this particular figure, it can be assumed that if there were adequate amount of new nurses to replace the people near retirement, there would be another concern about the shortage. On the other side, it is also identify that healthcare sector and the nursing school enrollment s not keeping pace with the estimated demand for Retirement Nursing. According to Lenthall et al., (2011), enrollment and graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Program in Nursing indicates that nursing School refused 75,768 qualified applicants from the graduate nursing programs, while some schools are working to increase enrollment by partnering with some healthcare setting. The findings of these journal articles help to state that even though some organizations and schools are working hard to mitigate workforce shortage, but due to high rate of aging population in the nursing workforce, the mitigation of workforce shortage may take few more years. Geographical distribution of the nursing workforce Geographical distribution of the Australian dental workforce 2015 presents the data that there is an increasing number of characteristics in nursing profession such as dental therapists, dental hygiene and dental prosthetists across Australi. Geographical distribution report indicates that organizations are mainly focusing on increasing the number of job roles in the healthcare sector of Australia. The Nursing workforce sustainability report (2014) indicates that understanding the growing demands of healthcare service, the organizations and all other related healthcare setting are working to fulfill the gap in the workforce. Consequently, the number of nurses and other health care staff increased to a certain number but it is yet to be improved. However, based on the sustainability report, it can be mentioned that due to growing exposure of technology, the cost of healthcare service is rapidly increasing but organizations in the sector did not pay required attention to the technological knowledge of nurses which is indirectly affecting the quality of services. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be ascertained that there is a growing demand of healthcare services as large population living longer with complex problems. Organizations in the sector are observing emerging needs of healthcare and however, there is a rapid demand of technology, through which the healthcare service can be improved. Nonetheless, current focus on technology is not adequate; thereby, besides nursing workforce planning, the originations also need to pay attention to technological consumptions in healthcare service. References Buchan, J., Twigg, D., Dussault, G., Duffield, C., Stone, P. W. (2015). Policies to sustain the nursing workforce: an international perspective.International nursing review,62(2), 162-170. Department of Health | Health topic quickview: Health workforce. (2018).Health.gov.au. Retrieved 4 April 2018, from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/portal-Health%20workforce Duffield, C., Graham, E., Donoghue, J., Griffiths, R., Bichel?Findlay, J., Dimitrelis, S. (2015). Why older nurses leave the workforce and the implications of them staying.Journal of clinical nursing,24(5-6), 824-831. Health.gov.au (2018). Department of Health | Health Workforce Data.. Retrieved 4 April 2018, from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/health_workforce_data Health.gov.au. (2018). Department of Health | Review of Australian Government Health Workforce Programs. Retrieved 4 April 2018, from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/work-health-workforce-program-review Jacob, E. R., McKenna, L., D'amore, A. (2015). The changing skill mix in nursing: considerations for and against different levels of nurse.Journal of nursing management,23(4), 421-426. Lenthall, S., Wakerman, J., Opie, T., Dunn, S., MacLeod, M., Dollard, M., ... Knight, S. (2011). Nursing workforce in very remote Australia, characteristics and key issues. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 19(1), 32-37. Perry, L., Lamont, S., Brunero, S., Gallagher, R., Duffield, C. (2015). The mental health of nurses in acute teaching hospital settings: a cross-sectional survey.BMC nursing,14(1), 15. Workforce Reports - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2018).Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved 4 April 2018, from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-statistics/health-welfare-services/workforce/reports