Essay Sample on Primary Health Nursing: Knowledge & Skills

Primary health nursing is the level of contact that people, communities, and families have with nurses in the primary healthcare system. Primary health care nurses include enrolled nurses, registered nurses, and nurse practitioners who are eligible for registration by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. They are required by the Agency to be competent and adhere to the standards and codes of the health care context. Primary health nursing requires unique knowledge and skills to help practices determine the best way to implement care coordination and transformation in primary healthcare centers. In Australia, primary health care nurses work in settings such as general practice, community settings, domiciliary locations, occupational surroundings, as well as informal and formal areas. Redesigning the primary care system in Australia has become a top priority as the country works to solve the issue of high cost, limited access to care, and sub-optimal quality. Entailed in their scope of practice, some of the roles of primary health care nurses are that their work may cover health promotion, antenatal and postnatal, population and public health, policy development and advocacy, child and family health nursing, illness prevention, healthy ageing, as well as rehabilitation and palliative care. This paper discusses the key features of healthy aging as a nursing role, the relationship between primary care and primary healthcare, characteristics of the aging population, and health issues of the aging group. Furthermore, the paper incorporates a discussion of the strategies for action in the Ottawa Charter for health promotion and different promotional activities associated with dementia as a health issue of the aging population. Primary care nurses have to provide quality services to their patients to address local health problems.

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Healthy aging in Australia has key features. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018, p.1) indicated that in 2017, 15% (3.8 million) of Australians were aged 65 years and above. While looking at the gender profile, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018, p.1) stated that women represented a large number of the older population. McPake and Mahal (2017, p.1) added that the percentage of older adults in America is expected to increase by 22.5% in 2050. The growth in the proportion of older adults in Australia is due to the increasing life expectancy (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018, p.1). Healthy aging incorporates the survival to a specific age, autonomy in daily activities such as house chores and shopping, being free from chronic ailments, high social participation, mild functional impairment, and little to no disability. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018, p.1) noted that factors such as behavioral, biometric, as well as mental and social wellbeing influence the ability of healthy ageing. For that reason, it is the responsibility of primary care nurses to ensure that they promote healthy living among the older population.

The relationship between primary care and primary healthcare is that they are both focused on the delivery of services. Cornwall (2014, p.1) stated that primary care practitioners are the first point of contact in a primary healthcare system. In a primary care system, achieving health outcomes requires multi-professional primary healthcare teams (Cornwall, 2014, p.1). The author stated that primary healthcare is comprehensive. For that reason, healthy aging is considered a primary healthcare nursing role because it takes a more comprehensive approach in dealing with health issues associated with ageing. According to McPake and Muhal (2017, p.1), the division of primary care presents a challenge for the integration of primary care teams. Due to the challenge, healthy aging as a health issue in Australia requires the reorientation of primary health services to ensure that nurses fulfill their role of taking care of the older population.

The characteristics of the aging population vary. As per PMSEIC (n.d, p.6), there are three populations of the aging population. The first group is the middle age group that are 45-64 years. The medical issues faced by this group generally reflect social and lifestyle changes (PMSEIC, n.d, p.6). Overweight and obesity, mental disorders, musculoskeletal issues, and cardiovascular issues represent most of the visits to primary care facilities (PMSEIC, n.d, p.6). The other group of the aging population is those aged 65-95 years. The most widely recognized medical issues faced by this group incorporate various types of malignancy, cardiovascular infections, tangible disarranges, musculoskeletal clutters and mental disorders (PMSEIC, n.d, p.6). Around 33% require help with ordinary exercises such as shopping and cooking (n.d, p.6). The last group is those over 80 years. People in this group experience the ill effects of constant infections, have elevated amounts of handicap, and have a steeply rising rate of the mental disorders such as Alzheimer's illness, dementia, and Parkinson's sickness (PMSEIC, n.d, p.7). The aging population has health needs that primary care nurses have to attend across the continuum. The Australian College of Nursing (2019, p.1) indicated that nurses play a significant role in providing appropriate care to older Australians and responding to their deterioration, functional, and cognitive decline. Primary care nurses have expertise in making clinical decisions to provide care for Australian older adults.

One common heath issue of the healthy population is Dementia, a health issue characterized by memory loss. Bush, Fink, and Lee (2016, p.1) asserted that dementia is the second leading cause of death in Australia as over 320, 000 Australians have the health issue. There are over 1700 new diagnoses per week (Swaffer, 2014, p.1). It is estimated that the number of older people with dementia will reach 900,000 by 2050 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014, p.3). The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (2019, p.10) mentioned that the current and future prevalence of dementia is founded on the continued aging of the populace and the presumption that the age-specific predominance of dementia will remain consistent. Dementia is caused by several factors that can be prevented. Ashby-Mitchell, Burns, Shaw, and Anstey (2017, p.1) asserted that according to published research findings in Australia, 10% in dementia cases attribute to lifestyle modifiable factors that could result in savings of $280 million. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018, p.1) indicated that in 2018, around three-fifths (61%) of individuals with dementia were women, and two-fifths (43%) were aged 85 and over. A comparative number of men and women had dementia in the younger age groups, at the same time, among individuals aged 85 and over, there was more than twice the same number of women as men in this age group (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018, p.1).

The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion identifies five strategies for action. According to Fry and Zack (2017, p.1), the Ottawa Charter defines health promotion as the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and improve health outcomes. Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986 (n.d, p.3) described the first strategy as developing personal skills, as one which is done through providing education, that enhances life skills. The second strategy is building healthy public policy. This involves a combination of approaches such as taxation, legislation, fiscal measures, and organizational change that contribute to healthier public services (Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986, n.d, p.3; Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, n.d, p2). The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (n.d, p.1) stated that the strategy puts health on the agenda of a policy. The third strategy is on creating supportive environments. It involves coming up with living conditions that are safe and satisfying to promote health services (Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986, n.d, p.2; Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, n.d, p2). The fourth action plan is strengthening community action. It involves coming up with flexible systems that would reinforce public participation in health issues (Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986, n.d, p.3; Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, n.d, p2). The fifth strategy is the reorientation of health services, which involves incorporating individuals, community groups, health professionals, and health service institutions to achieve positive health outcomes (Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986, n.d, p.3; Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, n.d, p2).

A health promotion activity related to the "Developing Personal Skills" strategy that a nurse could undertake in the prevention of dementia would be to offer practical advice that would help the younger generation take account for their medical needs to prevent dementia in old age.

A health promotion activity related to "Building Healthy Public Policy" strategy that a nurse could undertake in the prevention of dementia would be petitioning the government to increase the financial burden related to health expenses for the aged in the future years. The promotional activity mentioned would help families of older people with dementia to have reduced cost of care for dementia.

A health promotion activity related to the "Creating Supportive Environment" strategy that a nurse could undertake in the prevention of dementia would be to make the environment of the old people living with dementia with salient cues such as brightly illuminated statue since it will address the problem of wayfinding both cognitively and visually.

A health promotion activity related to the "Strengthening Community Action" strategy that a nurse could undertake in the prevention of dementia would be to encourage the community to support the autonomy of people with dementia as well as redress the inequities of vulnerable populations with dementia in the community.

A health promotion activity related to the "Reorientation of Health Services" strategy that a nurse could undertake in the prevention of dementia would be reorganizing general practice governance. Primary healthcare nurses could re-organize general practice governance to ensure more private sector involvement in the prevention and management of dementia.

Conclusion

Overall, primary care nurses have significant and diverse jobs in society. The nurse role incorporates self-sufficient and community-oriented consideration care, preventing illness, averting disease, conveying care, advancing safe environments, promotion, evidence-based research, and taking part in molding health strategies. Healthy aging starts in childhood. Health advancement procedures can postpone or limit the beginning and seriousness of diseases and age-related illnesses, spare health costs, and decrease the long run support needs of older individuals. Primary care nurses ought to be taught and supported to convey health promotion and counteractive action projects to help older adults in all human services, aged care, and community settings. For that reason, nurses need to develop programs that are focused on risk factor reduction of dementia. Programs must guarantee fair access and grasp the differing qualities, educational encounters and collected insight of older Australians. These projects may incorporate nourishment, dynamic living, smoking suspension, averting falls, coordinated chronic disease management, and proactive palliative care. To accomplish these points, primary care nurses require adept education to have knowledge and capability to help older Australians.

References

Ashby-Mitchell, K., Burns, R., Shaw, J., & Anstey, K. J. (2017). Propo...