Indigenous health should be taught as a stand alone in undergraduate studies as a measure of integrating indigenous health into conventional health. It is therefore important to integrate ethnic values, beliefs and expertise in designing of health care programs. In addition, the concept of community nursing still has a place in modern-day Australia and for such a program to be successful, then, curriculum designers and planners must rise above the stereotypes which have dominated the formulation of health care policies, strategies as well as the implementation processes in Australia .
There are a lot of advantages to be drawn from tapping ethnic or traditional knowledge and integrating such to health care undergraduate studies curriculum. When this is done, it is very likely that every single group in the population will be catered for in terms of health care provision and this is likely to impact positively on the health of the general populations. Out of all efforts geared towards achieving equal access to health, it is the University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) that has received some of the greatest support in terms of resources and collaborative input from the government.
Indeed UDRH is a national program which has taken a national outlook therefore risking marginalizing the very rural populations it was originally formed to serve. The fact that UDRH program is only available at specific universities such as Broken Hill, Mount Isa, Shepparton, Geraldton, Alice Springs as well as Launce Stone brings out the question of how effective it is to deal with such a big population as the Australian population . UDRH has been able to close the gap in health care provision in the society due to the fact that it receives a substantial amount of funding from commonwealth governments.
This is so because success of health care programs largely depends on how well-funded such programs are. Another strength of UDRH as a potential solution to health care challenges facing the country lays in the strategies UDRH has put in place. For instance, UDRH emphasizes on preventive medicine, which is well integrated with cultural awareness campaigns especially amongst indigenous population such as Aboriginals and Torres Strait . UDRH has used a collaborative approach whereby it partners with other stakeholders in health and education inorder to achieve its goals.
Finally UDRH has also been very supportive of professional health students in terms of empowering them to take up the challenge of health care in the society. However UDRH does not specifically address the issue of integration of indigenous health as a subject in health care curriculums. The high mortality rates amongst indigenous people compared to non-indigenous people are a great source of social injustice in terms of health care provision . This therefore calls for concerted efforts to change the worried situation given the fact that health care has undergone tremendous changes since the invention of information technology.
The fact that many indigenous people continue to die of preventable causes is a clear indication that there is a need to give prominence to indigenous health education as a way of empowering the indigenous people to deal with a problem which affects them directly. Although efforts in the past have included retention, recruitment, empowerment as well as rural health programs, there is a clear indication that a lot still needs to be done inorder to resolve the health problems facing the indigenous people.
This requires collaborative efforts amongst all stakeholders geared towards addressing the social and historical injustices which have characterized the way indigenous people have been treated all through. It is clear that the current efforts have fallen short of addressing the issue of under-representation of the indigenous people. Therefore there is a need for more awareness creation, empowerment of indigenous people as well as enactment of good laws to deal with the problem of lack of clear health policies targeting the indigenous people .
In conclusion the Australian undergraduate nursing curricular has failed in the past to integrate indigenous health as a subject in health care. It is the high time that all efforts should be consolidated to ensure that indigenous health is offered as a subject not only to indigenous people but to all health care professionals so as to address the discriminatory approach that health care provision in the country has been in the past.
It is very clear that indigenous health education will only be successful if curriculum designers develop a curricular which is responsive to the needs of the indigenous people.
References John, S. Humphreys, David Lyle, John Wakerman, Elizabeth Chalmers, David Wilkson, Judi Walker, David Simmons and Ann Larson. 2000. Roles and Activities of the Commonwealth Government University Departments of Rural Health. Aust. J. Rural Health. 8 pp. 120-133. Kai J, Spencer J, Wilkes M, Jill P. 1999.
Learning to Value Ethnic Diversity-What, Why and How? Med Educ. Pp. 76-90 Sally, Goold, Sue Turale, Maria Miller and Kim Usher. 2002. Report of the Indigenous Nursing Education Working Group to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN: 0 642 82125 pp. 9-21 Senate Community Affairs References Committee Report on the Inquiry into Nursing. The Patient Profession: Time for Action’. 2005. Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 0 642 82797 4.