Nursing practice assignment: Asthma in Children within Australia

Question

Task: Develop a nursing practice plan using the Registered Nurse Standards for strategies in managing the health issues that impact those of a chosen diverse population in the local, national, or global community of Australia. The topic selected to prepare this nursing practice assignment is “Asthma in Children within Australia”.

Answer

Childhood asthma and the social determinants of health:
It is evident in the nursing practice assignment that Asthma has been one of the major chronic health conditions which have been affecting the young generation of Australia specifically belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, by causing a greater burden of disease for the children, their families, and the community. Approximately 20. 8 percent of children in Australia suffer from asthma at any point in their childhood, hampering their way of living and growth. It has been affecting not only the children suffering from asthma but their families and the health care system of Australia (Sly & Holt, 2018). Every year around 38,792 children witness hospitalization due to their acute asthma conditions who are reported to be below the age of 14 years. The social determinants of health have a major role in causing and depriving the condition of asthma within the children of Australia. These social determinants related to childhood asthma within these ethnic aboriginal communities include (Horner, 2020):

1. Socio-economic condition: poverty and low family income families often witness a greater risk of attaining childhood asthma as it causes a scarcity of appropriate diet and support which is required to maintain proper health conditions for the children.

2. Housing, Hygiene, and infrastructure: lack of proper housing and location of accommodation along with poor hygiene maintenance causes sever influence on the health of the children as it may increase the risk of trauma and infections which may induce the condition of asthma (Boulton, 2016).

3. Nutritional intake: it is necessary that children are provided with a significant diet in order to provide them with healthy living. Asthma can be caused due to having an improper diet or proper meal as the body becomes significantly weak to sustain complicated health conditions similar to asthma.

4. Access to health care services: lack of availability of proper health care services or proper access to health care services often affects the health condition of children by increasing the risk of acute exacerbation of asthma (Thomas et al., 2017).

Health inequalities and inequities:
The prevalence of the occurrence of asthma within the children of Australia belonging to the ethnic communities is higher than any other communities throughout the world. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are known to be the indigenous communities of Australia which has been witnessing a greater rate of health inequalities and inequities due to their ethnicity, and social determinants of health (Campbell et al., 2018). Health inequalities are faced by the children suffering from asthma of these communities are due to having deprived behavioral conditions related to their ethnicity and the work professions they choose for living. Often it has been found that these families believe in treating their children and families with the traditional treatment practices they have been practicing throughout their traditional era. The professions they choose for a living are generally of low income and deprived facilities which often lead them towards witnessing inequality in every aspect from those of the average of high-income communities (Greenwood, De Leeuw & Lindsay, 2018).

It is stated in this segment of nursing practice assignment that health equities have also been playing a major role in increasing the severity of childhood asthma in these children as they witness racial discrimination or unfair services for belonging to a deprived community. Also, lack of stable socio-economic conditions and literacy often keep them deprived of attaining facilities related to their health condition as they do not have the proper education or idea about the services they have been provided with by the government. Often these communitieswitness inequity due to having a health care service with a lack of proper delivery of health care facilities and services to these children suffering from asthma. The condition becomes severe when the family or the parents of the children have a low rate of literacy-related to asthma and associated complications. These factors altogether contribute to increasing the threat of exacerbation of asthma in these young generations. The inequities also take place due to the environment they live in, the majority of the ethnic and aboriginal communities of Australia are found residing in the rural and remote locations throughout Australia. These rural and remote locations are often found disconnected from the facilities the government has been promoting for the betterment of these communities (Chenhall& Senior, 2018).

What are the key health issues identified in the nursing practice assignment?
Asthma has been causing greater disruption in the health care system focusing on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status. Asthma has been affecting more than 11% of children belonging to the age group of 11 and younger of the aboriginal communities of Australia. Though the rate of attaining health care services within these communities has increased by up to 69 percent, the rate of occurrence of asthma and its severity is still increasing. Asthma has been the key health issue witnessed by these communities as the social determinants of health-related to the community have been deriving their health condition and increasing the risk of health complications such as asthma, obesity, and diabetes. One of the major reasons behind the occurrence of childhood asthma within these communities is poor diet intake and the act of substance abuse within these communities. It has been found that the children belonging to these communities are often having poor dietary intake which makes them susceptible to various health conditions due to the weakening of the immunity. Also, substance abuse has a greater prevalence rate within these ethnic communities as, children belonging to the aboriginal communities have a higher rate of witnessing substance abuse at a very early stage than those of other non-indigenous communities of Australia (O'Grady et al., 2018).

Development of childhood asthma within these children often makes them vulnerable due to having poor ability to sustain a healthy and normal life as they do not attain proper diet and health careservices which us necessary for a child suffering from asthma. It has been found in this nursing practice assignment that the health condition has been hampering the academic standards of these children as they are often witnessing asthma attacks which becomes frequent in conditions similar to those of the aboriginal with poor lifestyle. Also, these children become physically dependent and incompetent to conduct any of their daily routines as their housing and other social determinants increase the risk of exacerbation which may lead to the severity of the condition (Skinner et al., 2020).

Nursing care considerations:
It will be a significant step to provide proper nursing consideration to these communities and their children suffering from asthma in order to minimize the growing threat of morbidity and mortality. The registered nurse thus plays a major role in providing better health care services to the susceptible population as they are the key to advanced and effective health services. The Department of Health, Government of Australia have developed certain standards in order to provide guidance and consideration to these registered nurses regarding their role as a care provider. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, has developed certain nursing standards for these registered nurses which has its effectiveness and correlation to the betterment of the rising condition of childhood asthma within these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Registered nurses’ standards:
Standard 2: Engaging in a therapeutic and professional relationship
The standard 2 of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia for the registered nurse guides the nursing facilities regarding the need for effective communication and maintaining the respect of these aboriginal communities. It is necessary that the nurses respect the values, cultural believes, and ethics of these aboriginal communities which are different from the others. They need to maintain proper communication and therapeutic relationship with the patients in order to make the treatment and care delivery much more effective. Every patient belonging to any ethnic or non- ethnic community must be treated equally without any discrimination based on their cultural or social aspects. Communication is one of the most effective ways of developing trust and better understanding between the patient and the care provider which will help the nurse in providing the ethnic population with the proper direction or guidance related to their health condition (Harrison, Birks., Franklin& Mills, 2020). It is necessary as these communities lack proper knowledge and understanding regarding the health conditions and their complications. It has been found that these communities often witnesses discrimination and unfair services that have developed a condition that makes it difficult for them to sustain trust over health care professionals. Thus, it will be necessary that these registered nurses have proper skills of communicating with these ethics groups to gain trust, and maintaining dignity will help them seek better health and maintain a stable and progressive health condition. The majority of the severity of childhood asthma takes solace due to a lack of trust or consideration towards the health care services that are provided to these aboriginal communities of Australia. It clearly defines the need for a better therapeutic and intra-professional relationship between these communities and the registered nurses as it is one of the keys to better community health in Australia (Bromley, 2018).

Standard 3: Maintains the capability of practice
Herein nursing practice assignment, Standard 3 of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia for the registered nurse states that it is necessary that every individual belonging to ay community must be accurately informed and educated in order to enhance their capability and strength to take proper control over their health conditions. It is necessary as these communities are vulnerable to health conditions such as childhood asthma as they do not have proper information or education reading the measure of the complications which are associated with the health conditions. Often lack of proper knowledge and literacy about the facilities and services which are available for these ethnic groups of Australia make them deprived of attaining better health. Thus, it is a major role of a nurse to guide the patients with proper information and literacy related to the factors which are associated or interlinked with the health condition (Lyons & Bliss, 2018). It is also necessary that the registered nurses identify and enhances their roles as a care provider within the health care premises. A nursing facility is known to be the key association between better health care services and the patients, thus, they need to maintain a better standard of their nursing practice in order to promote better community and patient health outcomes. Lack of appreciates practice and service will lead to increased complications for the community as they have deprived understanding and knowledge about the health conditions, the measures they need to maintain, and the facilities which will help them sustain better health. Thus, they need to be guided and provided with better assistance within the health care services, or else it will increase the rising issue of health complications within the aboriginal communities of Australia (Edmonds, Cashin & Heartfield, 2016).

Standard 6: Provides safe, Appropriate, and Responsive quality nursing practice
According to the Standard 6 ofthe Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia for the registered nurse reviewed in this section of nursing practice assignment, a registered nurse must provide the patient or the person seeking health care assistance with quality nursing practice, wide-ranging and safe supervision in order to achieve the desired goal to better health care outcome. It is necessary that these nurses provide these communities belonging to the aboriginal groups of Australia with the nursing practice which is appropriate and is safe to ensure a better outcome for the people suffering from health complications (Cashin et al., 2017). Also, it will be necessary that the nurses' practice according to the appropriate policies, laws, legislations, standards, and guidelines which have been developed and approved by the government of Australia. It helps in maintaining proper ethical nursing care with minimized chances of violating any legal process of nursing care. The nurses must maintain their standards and legal guidelines in order to provide these communities with all the facilities they have been provided with and ensure a safe and fair health care options for their health condition. Thus, following the standards 6 of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia for the registered nurse noted herein nursing practice assignment will help in maintaining a better health acre consideration for the aboriginal communities of Australia suffering from childhood asthma and several other complicated health conditions (Baldwin, Mills, Birks& Budden, 2017).

Reference:
Baldwin, A., Mills, J., Birks, M., & Budden, L. (2017). Reconciling professional identity: A grounded theory of nurse academics' role modelling for undergraduate students. Nursing practice assignmentNurse Education Today, 59, 1-5.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.08.010

Boulton, J. (Ed.). (2016). Aboriginal children, history and health: Beyond social determinants. Routledge. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=TAURDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=aboriginal+community+and+social+determinants&ots=C-3Cwrm1o0&sig=C8fLSRH_2mQcN1F5SFIPmaUbENg#v=onepage&q=aboriginal%20community%20and% 20social%20determinants&f=false

Bromley, P. (2018). Capability in nursing. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, 26(1), 42-43. Retrieved from: https://search.proquest.com/openview/4d58bd20806a834edef73a4063f2acc8/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=33490https://search.proquest.com/openview/4d58bd20806a834edef73a4063f2acc8/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=33490

Campbell, M. A., Hunt, J., Scrimgeour, D. J., Davey, M., & Jones, V. (2018). Contribution of Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services to improving Aboriginal health: an evidence review. Australian Health Review, 42(2), 218-226. https://doi.org/10.1071/AH16149

Cashin, A., Heartfield, M., Bryce, J., Devey, L., Buckley, T., Cox, D., ... & Fisher, M. (2017). Standards for practice for registered nurses in Australia. Collegian, 24(3), 255-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2016.03.002

Chenhall, R. D., & Senior, K. (2018). Living the social determinants of health: Assemblages in a remote Aboriginal community. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 32(2), 177-195. https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12418

Edmonds, L., Cashin, A., & Heartfield, M. (2016). Comparison of Australian specialty nurse standards with registered nurse standards. International Nursing Review, 63(2), 162-179. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12235

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Horner, S. D. (2020). Examining Social Determinants of Health in Childhood Asthma Management. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 34(5), 222-230. doi: 10.1097/NUR.0000000000000542

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O'Grady, K. A. F., Hall, K. K., Bell, A., Chang, A. B., & Potter, C. (2018). Review of respiratory disease among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin, 18(2). 10.3389/fped.2018.00379

Skinner, A., Falster, K., Gunasekera, H., Burgess, L., Sherriff, S., Deuis, M., ... & Banks, E. (2020). Asthma in urban Aboriginal children: A cross?sectional study of socio?demographic patterns and associations with pre?natal and current carer smoking. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.14991

Sly, P. D., & Holt, P. G. (2018). Pollution, climate change, and childhood asthma in Australia. The Medical journal of Australia, 208(7), 297-98. Retrieved from: https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/issues/208_07/10.5694mja17.01145.pdf

Thomas, D. P., Panaretto, K. S., Davey, M., Briggs, V., & Borland, R. (2017). The social determinants and starting and sustaining quit attempts in a national sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers. Nursing practice assignmentAustralian and New Zealand journal of public health, 41(3), 230-236.https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12626