Contemporary Indigenous Health Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Contemporary Indigenous Health. Answer: Indigenous population living in remote communities suffer from poor health status and longevity as compared to other Australians, the imbalance is to be addressed by healthcare professionals by ensuring optimal quality care devoid of discrimination and injustice. Nurses play a significant role in the improvement of health and wellbeing of indigenous people, and they require both cultural respect and clinical skills to do so (Hunt et al. 2015). The RN Standards, UTS Graduate attributes, and Indigenous Graduate attributes guide decision making of nurses while caring for this section of the population. The present essay focuses on contemporary indigenous health and wellbeing from the nurses point of view and puts up a reflection on personal experience in this regard. The essay first highlights the assumptions made prior to providing nursing care for indigenous people. The second section of the essay reflects on personal experience using Gibbs reflection model. The consecutive part of th e essay puts forward an action plan based on the conclusion drawn from the reflection. The essay provides a logical conclusion to the comprehensive discussion. As a nurse, I understand that I am accountable for providing safe and high quality care to the patients presenting diverse health issues and concerns. In this regard, I would like to mention that I lacked a clear knowledge of the requisites of providing secured and culturally competent care to individuals belonging to the indigenous groups. Prior to delivery of care to the indigenous population, I had the assumption that I lacked adequate skills and knowledge imperative for caring for the indigenous population. I strongly felt that I was not well equipped and knowledgeable about the attributes one must possess while caring for the vulnerable population. At this juncture, I would like to highlight that I felt the need of addressing my inability to demonstrate appropriate skills while caring for an indigenous population. Communication, in my viewpoint, is the most crucial factor while a nurse is caring for a patient. I believed that I lacked effective communication skills that would en able me to care for patients from diverse backgrounds. According to Ramjan, Hunt and Salamonson (2016) nurses are to be aware of the differences in nonverbal and verbal communication needs of the indigenous and nonindigenous population. Further, they must appreciate the cultural and linguistic aspects of interactions demonstrated by this group. Recognizing chances of miscommunication is a crucial aspect that nurses must address while delivering care. Devitt et al. (2017) in this regard highlighted that nurses must understand the adverse consequences of communication breakdown when a patient is unable to express his viewpoints and opinions. Molloy (2017) pinpointed that effective health care communication between care providers and indigenous patients witnesses numerous challenges. These barriers are to be overcome at every stage by nurses in a competent manner. Prior to commencing CIHWB, I was apprehensive of the outcomes that were to be experienced as a result of caring for patients from the indigenous population. I was looking forward to translate my minimal skills and knowledge into practice. My aim was to learn from experiences and engage in professional development for future practices. I was hopeful that CIHWB would be a fulfilling experience, providing me the opportunity to determine my key strengths and weaknesses that I need to work on at an immediate basis. Coming to the next part of the essay, personal experience regarding CIHWB would be explained with the help of Gibbs reflective cycle. Reflective writing with the help of an established framework is a deliberate and active process of critically examining practice. A nurse is challenged to undertake the process of self-inquiry. Gibb's reflective cycle permits a systematic and structured analysis and reflection of any selected experience (McEwen Wills 2017). With this reflection, I would be able to look deep into my experience and feelings with successful interpretation of the same. The key events from CIHWB summer sessions pertained to experiences of patient care through which I got wide exposure to diverse, challenging clinical scenarios. These scenarios were significant to my continual learning process as a nurse for fostering professional development. We were provided with various opportunities to demonstrate our critical thinking skills and decision making ability. One particular scenario that was significant in this context would be explained in here. On my third day of CIHWB session I was placed at the recovery room where a 31 year old woman, Ms. G, was recovering from surgery due to elective termination of pregnancy. Upon investigating I came to know that the patient had an indigenous background, living in a remote town of the state. As a result she had language barriers in communication and needed an interpreter to communicate her needs and opinions. Preoperatively, she had an interpreter present to engage in effective communication; however, the interpreter was not present in the recovery period. When she gained consciousness after surgery she saw a 3-year-old boy admitted at the next bed to hers. This made her distressed and started crying. She appeared to have no clear understanding of English language and all the attempts to console her went into vain. I gave best efforts to calm her down and help her in gaining control over her feelings; however, she was not ready to comprehend. I felt that the patient was upset upon seeing the boy in the recovery room and went to get a mobile screen for separating Ms. G from the boy. This however made the situation worse as she became more upset. Realizing the importance of the situation I called the concerned personnel to request the interpreter to visit the recovery room as I was not able to reassure the patient due to the communication barrier. It was disturbing to find that the 3 year old boy was also upset. The interpreter arrived soon after and helped the patient to verbalize that the presence of the child made her feel depressed as she had undergone pregnancy termination. I felt helpless as I was not in a position to understand the reason behind the patients disturbed emotional front. I also felt guilty of not being able to reassure her and calm her down. Further, I felt sorry for the 3 year old boy who was very much distracted by the surrounding environment. I was also concerned that the patient felt isolated when the screen was placed and might have felt judged due to her reactions. At this point, it would be essential to evaluate the experience and understand the implication for indigenous healthcare practice. Ms. G was in a vulnerable position due to her surgery at the recovery room and required the elimination of communication barriers. Though I attempted to resolve the issue by placing the screen, it only added to the anguish and stress suffered by the patient. It was, however, a good decision to call the interpreter upon applying critical analysis skills. In this manner I had been able to provide the patient with safe and companionate care. Analysis of the experience would help in drawing key messages from the scenario. According to Piercey and Robinson (2017) nurses are to be culturally competent while caring from patients from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Communication is perceived as the most basic component of cross culture care and nurses must be considering all possible mean of eliminating language barriers. I feel that I should have considered calling the interpreter right after the patient was brought in the recovery room. Though I have attempted to resolve the situation my ability to care for the patient proved to be insufficient. Chang and Daly (2015) suggested that nurses must address their deficits for ensuring that cross cultural and communication differences do not arise. Use of translators and interpreters is the best aid in this regard. Based on the literature at the time of analysis, it is clear that it would have been appropriate if I had called the interpreter for reducing the anxiety, stress and emotional pain felt by the patient under my care. In my opinion, it was in concern of both the patients to place the screen between them. Scarcity of resources might not enable the presence of an interpreter at certain point of time, but as advocates of patients a nurse must ensure to act in the patients best interest. Reflection on the nursing scenario entails changes to be brought in future practice based on RN Standards, UTS Graduate attributes and Indigenous Graduate attributes. As per the NMBA RN standard 1, nurses must engage in therapeutic and professional relationships. Further, as per standard 6, nurses must provide safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice (Daly et al. 2017). I would adhere to these two standards in my future professional practice. The UTS Graduate attributes focus on ensuring that the graduates are well-rounded professionals who are ready to make a place for them in the respective domain in future. These attributes include communication and collaboration, Indigenous proficiency, professional competence, critical thinking, and leadership. As a healthcare professional, I would ensure that I demonstrate all these skills in due course of my practice. As per the Indigenous Graduate attributes, a graduate is to communicate effectively and ethically within Indig enous Australian contexts. Abiding by this statement, I would focus on engaging in effective communication with my clients from an indigenous background. At the end of the essay, it is to be concluded that as a healthcare professional delivering care to indigenous people, I would engage work in a more focused manner. The care process of a nurse is to be informed by attributes designed for ensuring indigenous health and wellbeing. I felt this reflective essay has been highly valuable in guiding my future practice. There lies immense scope of applying the key insights taken from the reflective work that would help in future professional development. This would be further informed by key nursing practice standards and attributes. References Chang, E. Daly, J., 2015.Transitions in Nursing-E-Book: Preparing for Professional Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences. Daly, J., Speedy, S. Jackson, D., 2017.Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Elsevier Health Sciences. Devitt, J., Anderson, K., Cunningham, J., Preece, C., Snelling, P. Cass, A., 2017. Difficult conversations: Australian Indigenous patients views on kidney transplantation.BMC nephrology,vol. 18, no. 1, p.310. Hunt, L., Ramjan, L., McDonald, G., Koch, J., Baird, D. Salamonson, Y., 2015. Nursing students' perspectives of the health and healthcare issues of Australian Indigenous people.Nurse education today,vol 35, no.3, pp.461-467. McEwen, M. Wills, E.M., 2017.Theoretical basis for nursing. Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Molloy, L., 2017. Nursing care and indigenous Australians: An autoethnography.Collegian,vol. 24, no. 5, pp.487-490. Piercey, C. Robinson, M., 2017. Indigenous nursing workforce, to achieve equality in healthcare services.Australian nursing midwifery journal,vol. 24, no.9, pp.39-39. Ramjan, L., Hunt, L. Salamonson, Y., 2016. Predictors of negative attitudes toward Indigenous Australians and a unit of study among undergraduate nursing students: A mixed-methods study.Nurse education in practice,vol. 17, pp.200-207.