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Common Values and Beliefs Impacting Healthcare in Australia 

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Common Values and Beliefs Impacting Healthcare in Australia 

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Australia's healthcare system is based on traditional values of a universal, affordable, accessible, equitable, high-quality system.

Australia currently has a regionally administered, universal public health insurance program (Medicare) that is financed through general tax revenue and a government levy.

The Australian healthcare system is a hybrid model that allows its citizens and refugees the options to purchase private insurance coverage in addition to Medicare (Dixit and Sambasivan, 2018).

Average cost of public health insurance for 1 person: 2% of income, taken through tax.

Average cost of private health insurance for 1 person: around $2,000 per year.

Over the past 45 years, it’s been a pendulum swinging back and forth: Conservative governments attempt to strengthen the private insurance sector, pushing for the public system to act as more of a safety net, while the liberal governments focus on investing in and strengthening the public system (Scott, 2020).

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- 90% of Australians live on the coast
- The Great Barrier Reef is the pride and joy of Australia, made up of nearly 2,500 individual reefs and visible from space.
- The Box Jellyfish, which is found in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, is responsible for more deaths than snakes, sharks and saltwater crocodiles combined.
- Australia is the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth.
- 80% of the species of animals in Australia are unique to the country

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English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 73% of the population.

Australia's major religion is Christianity with the major denominations including Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Presbyterian and Reformed, Eastern Orthodox, Baptist and Lutheran.

Almost 4% of the population are consider themselves Aboriginal Australians, or of Torres Strait Islander decent. Tribal culture is seen as the center of their well-being, but there is great diversity between different communities. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019)

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For the year ending 30 June 2020:

There were over 7.6 million migrants living in Australia

29.8% of Australia's population were born overseas

Australia's population increased by 194,400 people due to net overseas migration

368,700 people moved interstate, a decrease of 8.7% from the previous year.

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Graph 1.1 Percentage of overseas-born, Australia - at 30 June - 1891 to 2020(a)(b)

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Patients are more satisfied with general practice nurses, seeing the same nurse for chronic conditions (Desborough et al., 2016).

Enrolled nurses perform most direct patient care. They typically measure vital signs, assist in hygiene, and perform first aid (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2016).

Registered nurses manage patient care and delegate tasks appropriately. They may perform more complicated and specialized tasks (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2016).

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Complementary medicine has remained high in Australia even though progress and advancements have improved the health care system (Steel et al., 2018).

In 2016, 61.3% of people use complementary medicine. Massage therapists, chiropractors, and yoga teachers were the most commonly consulted complementary medicine practitioners (Steel et al., 2018).

The most commonly used methods of complementary medicine include massage therapy, music therapy, and non-herbal substances (Arbon and Shorofi, 2017).

Individuals with chronic disease diagnoses were more likely to use complementary medicine than the population without chronic issues (Steel et al., 2018).

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Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). Profile of Indigenous Australians. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/profile-of-indigenous-australians

Desborough, J., Bagheri, N., Banfield, M., Mills, J., Phillips, C., & Korda, R. (2016). The impact of general practice nursing care on patient satisfaction and enablement in Australia: A mixed methods study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 64, 108–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2016.10.004

Dixit, S. K., & Sambasivan, M. (2018). A review of the Australian healthcare system: A policy perspective. SAGE open medicine, 6, 2050312118769211. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312118769211

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2016). Registered nurse standards of practice. https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?record=WD16%2f19524&dbid=AP&chksum=R5Pkrn8yVpb9bJvtpTRe8w%3d%3d

Scott, D. (2020). Two sisters. Two different journeys through Australia’s health care system. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2020/1/15/21030568/australia-health-insurance-medicare

Shorofi, S. A., & Arbon, P. (2017). Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among Australian hospital-based nurses: knowledge, attitude, personal and professional use, reasons for use, CAM referrals, and socio-demographic predictors of CAM users. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 27, 37–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2017.03.001

Steel, A., McIntyre, E., Harnett, J., Foley, H., Adams, J., Sibbritt, D., Wardle, J., & Frawley, J. (2018). Complementary medicine use in the Australian population: Results of a nationally-representative cross-sectional survey. Scientific Reports, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35508-y

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1. Australia's healthcare system is built on what values?
2. When did Australia's current universal public program begin?
3. How does the scope of practice for a registered nurse differ from an enrolled nurse?