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Rural community nurses: insights into health workforce and health service needs
Citation
Barrett, A and Terry, DR and Le, Q and Hoang, H, Rural community nurses: insights into health workforce and health service needs, International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society, 5, (3) pp. 109-120. ISSN 2156-8960 (2015) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2015 Common Ground, Annette Barrett, Daniel R. Terry, Quynah Le, Ha Hoang
Official URL: http://ijw.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.198/prod.20...
Abstract
Community nurses often work in isolation, particularly in rural areas where many other non-government adjunct health services are absent. At times, they feel overwhelmed, stressed and undervalued while undertaking diverse responsibilities. The study aimed to examine the benefits and challenges community nurses experience when working in rural and remote areas of Tasmania, Australia while determining the specialty skills and practices to meet rural health needs. An explorative research design using a phenomenological approach was adopted. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a convenient sample of 15 community nurses from the North and North-west areas of Tasmania. This yielded insight into the rural workforce challenges, gaps in services and the community nurses' lived experience of providing adequate health services to these communities. The results indicated significant variations in the structure and type of community nursing services and a number of key challenges were identified within the profession. Despite these challenges community nurses interviewed indicated high levels of job satisfaction and long term employment. Given the diversity in both community nursing roles and factors impacting on the role further research is required to examine the exact roles and levels of integration between specialist and generalist community nursing roles while exploring and more clearly defining the role of the contemporary community nurse in Australia. Consideration should also be given to embracing community nursing diversity which is an important aspect of best practice for future community nursing.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | community health, rural health, nursing, skills, challenges, employment satisfaction |
| Research Division: | Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Health services and systems |
| Research Field: | Health services and systems not elsewhere classified |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Evaluation of health and support services |
| Objective Field: | Evaluation of health and support services not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Barrett, A (Ms Annette Barrett) |
| UTAS Author: | Le, Q (Dr Quynh Le) |
| UTAS Author: | Hoang, H (Dr Ha Hoang) |
| ID Code: | 103075 |
| Year Published: | 2015 |
| Deposited By: | UTAS Centre for Rural Health |
| Deposited On: | 2015-09-17 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-11-04 |
| Downloads: | 214 View Download Statistics |
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