Australian labour market trends
Australians health care system ranks high, when compared to the other countries. In 2014, Australia has ranked sixth in terms of health care efficiency, seventh in the year 2013 and seventh in life expectancy (ABS, 2018). The high standards of living and the excellent health care system brings about several benefits to population.As per the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the heath care sector and he social care sector of Australia currently can give employment to about 1,600,000 people, which makes up about 15 % of the Australian work force (ABS, 2018). There is an opportunity for the Australian heath care sector to become a major export industry and make a positive contribution to the Australian economy.
This report will discuss about the job opportunities in the aged care and the mental health care sectors in light of the Australian labour market. This will further focus on the career prospects on these two sectors followed by the identification of three nursing organisation that will help in my professional development followed by a job seeking plan.
The health and the social care sector of Australia employs for more than 1.4 million of people working in various departments (Australian Government., 2018). Both the communicable and the non-communicable diseases have changed their pathogenesis and have made the health care more complicated. The rate of the average annual growth in health care sector is about 5.0 percent that is double the rate of growth in all the other countries. Among the different professions in the health care sector, the recent number of employed nurses is about 250,400, followed by the child carers of about 1134600 and the disabled and the aged carers of about 153,200(Australian Government., 2018). The aged care sector in the Australian health care sector is the largest revenue maker in this sector. Furthermore, the increase in the aged population of Australia has increased the demand of the Australian health care. This is because of the fact that the increase in the baby boomer’s population will suffer from more degenerative and chronic diseases and would require more hospital stays and follow up care (Duckett & Willcox, 2015). According to King,Wei, & Howe (2013), some of the sectors in the Australian labor market have shortage of staffs. Shortage of staffing has been reported in the childcare sector, physiotherapy, midwifery and ages care. There is also a need for skilled health care workers in the mental health services.
Healthcare sectors and occupations
Source: Australian institute of health and welfare, (2018)
- Sector One
Aged care sector
The aged population of Australia are growing drastically and hence a large population of the aged people working in the health care sectors would be retiring soon, thus increasing the chance of a long term career growth. With the increase in the aged population, the consumers of the health care are also rising as aged people are more likely to get access to health care (Duckett & Willcox, 2015). The flexible funding of the government have also increased the consumption of the health care. Due to the growing demand of the health care the investors were also attracted for investing in innovative technologies invested in health care, such as the application of telemedicine, telehealth, electronic heath information exchange and more. The major telecom services are now investing in the telehealth services. The aged care facilities in Australia now provides a wide range of facilities such as homes for aged care, retirement villages, after hospital care facilities, home support workers and carer counselling (Australian Institute of Health., 2012). There are provisions for home care support where carers are appointed to help aged people with the daily chores of life including, cooking, shopping and banking. Retirement villages are meant to provide accommodation and other health care facilities in lieu of a particular amount of cost. In most of the case the children have to stay away from their parents due to work commitments and hence wants for a seamless transition of the different levels of care, which are provided by the aged care facilities today. All these aged care facilities have 24 hours ambulatory care facilities, personal care community nurses, GP care facilities, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. This augmentation in the community directed care have increased the job opportunities in the aged care sector. Currently the revenue of the aged care sector of Australia is expected to increase up to 28 billion by the year 2023, but more growth in the revenue is expected in the coming years.
As a nursing professional we have to work in frontline with the physicians and often as a member of a multidisciplinary team which has helped to cultivate the skills of effective communication, flexibility, adaptability, critical thinking (Griffith, 2012). Adaptability, flexibility and effective communication are the most important attributes for being an aged care nurse. Some of the job opportunities in the aged care sector are registered or enrolled nurse, clinical manager, registered nurse in residential aged care, care coordinator, liaison officer in an aged care facility.
Long term goals as a nurse
Development of the clinical skills such as learning in the diverse hospital departments and proper skills for assessing the patients, obtain their medical history and recording their information in a chart. Nurses also have to develop several technical skills that include using of computers and medical devices, including the insertion of the intravenous lines, administer vaccinations and measure the vital signs (Griffith, 2012).
Nurses also have to maintain stability in their emotions while caring for the patients. They are required to demonstrate compassion, caring and empathy while caring for the elderly patients (Griffith, 2012).
The short term goals of new aspiring nurses are to determine the educational requirements, development of the interpersonal skills and get a specialisation in specific field by consulting with a career planning and placement office (Griffith, 2012).
- Sector Two
Mental health care sector is a growing sector in Australian health care economy. This is contributed by the fact that every fifth person in the Australian government is affected by mental illness. As per the statistical data, about 15 % of the Australian population suffers from anxiety, depression and mental illness and the rate has been found to be increasing 2% every year (Australian institute of health and welfare, 2018). Furthermore the health care departments have also increased by about 55 % (National mental health commission. 2018). The ratio of the number of mental health care workers and the mental health patients are not equal and hence requires more mental health care workers including mental health nurses to meet the increasing demands. Hence this sector has been chosen as a viable career option in the Australian health care industry (National mental health commission. 2018). The mental health care options are flexible and may vary from working in informal care facility, to public hospitals. Family caregivers or mental health nurses in private clinical settings. Some of the social aspects of the job is clinical counselling, psychiatric nurse, and family or marriage therapist. The chance of stagnancy in this field is low due to the vast career opportunity (King, Wei & Howe, 2013).
As discussed earlier flexibility and adaptability is an important feature of the mental health nurses. I believe that during my academic career as a nurse I have developed excellent communication skills and listening skills, the ability to gain trust of the mental health patients. My ethical knowledge provides with empathy and the ability to relate to people of all ages and background.
Short term goals
One of the noteworthy aspects of getting education from foreign universities is the scope of getting exposed to new cultures and opportunities. Students get introduced to new experiences, cultures, science, food, fashion and more. International students are often faced with cultural shock due to the sudden change in the culture (Henderson, Barker & Mak, 2016). Students often suffer from loneliness and depression due to the sudden cultural shock.
The international student finds it challenging to fit in to the contemporary trends of the universities or the workplace. Intercultural communication can be hindered by linguistic barrier, differences in academic and interpersonal skills differences in cultural expectations. Language can become an important barrier to cultural assimilation (Bennetts et al., 2013). Students from the Asian country might face intercultural challenged to interact with the students and the teachers. New academic settings and curriculum can become stressful for the foreign students.
Secondly, Australia being a small power distant culture, the employers can be approached directly if one has confidence and skill. Merit alone would not be sufficient for a person to get a dream job in the Australian industrial sector. In this country even a graduate can approach the employers directly with innovative ideas which is so very different from our country, where the top hiring managers cannot be accessed by a mere graduate (Bennetts et al., 2013) . Hence it is necessary for the international students to adapt themselves to their trends and patterns.
In order to overcome the challenges it is important to discover activities in the university campus that would help them in their integration to the new culture. Intercultural challenges can affect health care, as linguistic barrier can give rise to miscommunication between the patients and the nurses as the behaviour of the nurses are governed by their cultural roots (Henderson, Barker & Mak, 2016). Assimilation to the new culture is necessary to the development of cultural sensitiveness to provide a culturally safe care to the patients. Some of the activities that can be helpful for overcoming the intercultural issues are provision of student association or clubs for the international students, fraternities and sororities for the international students, academic clubs and off campus activities (Bennetts et al., 2013).
Based on the research that is being carried out in this reports I have identified three chosen nursing organisation that can maximise the job opportunities in this field.
The Australian nursing and the midwifery federation is the largest federation in Australia that aims to provide a high quality of care to the Australian population (Anmf.org.au. 2018). Any enrolled or registered nurse are eligible to become associated with this federation. They also seek employment for the graduate nurses after they have completed their academic career. I intend to possess all he qualifications required by the end of The Australian nursing and the midwifery federation (Anmf.org.au. 2018). The suitable location of the organisation makes it a suitable option for an international student like me, to whom unknown and remote location can become a factor. My job seeking strategy would include the identification of the best accredited nursing organisations where I can develop my professional standard.
Intercultural challenges facing international students
Another organisation that is suitable as per my academics is the Australian college of nursing (ACN) (Australian College of Nursing. 2018). This organization gives opportunities ton skilled and dynamic nurses. The organization helps to train the nurse with advanced nursing leadership strategies to ensure a safe and quality care to the population. There are four operational divisions in this organization, such as education, support, commercial and the professional division. The excellent panel of the recruiters, scope and the job location makes it a suitable option for the growth of my professional career.
The Australian primary health care Nurses Association (APNA), is provides some of the best professional nurses in Australia. The excellent learning environment and the training would give me the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of a nurse. This organization trains the nurses for providing primary care to the vulnerable individuals and communities and copes up with national crisis (Apna.asn.au. 2018).
My interest is to establish my position in the health care industry as a registered nurse, which can be predicted as an area of excellent growth in the coming few years due to the increase in the number of health care consumers and the expanding role of the nurses. Specifically I am seeking a position in the aged care sector or the mental health sector. I have always dreamt of addressing the grievances of these groups of people, as I believe that both the groups are vulnerable to health inequalities. I am adaptable to any kind of relocation as per the job requirement.
Job seeking plan:-
- Would clearly decide about the kind of nursing position we are opting for and a bullet list of my top strength, accomplishments and the expertise would be made.
- Submission of online applications to various nursing organizations by 25 September. The application will be printed prior to the submission.
- I would actively communicate with the various alumni group of my institutions.
- I would join the professional associations, would certainly attain the career fairs and properly research on the various contacts provided by them.
- Would certainly visit the job sites; go through the websites to prepare interview questions.
- I would maintain a database of contacts and the follow up entries via the
Conclusion
The health care sector have been exhibiting a rapid growth over the past few years due to the increasing number of aged people , advanced life expectancy due to advancement in the field of medical science. The aged and the mental health sectors have shown a promising future for career growth. A proper career planning is required to smoothen the career path.
References
ABS 2018. Analysis of trends in the Australian labour market. [online] Department of Jobs and Small Business. Available at: https://www.jobs.gov.au/annual-report-2016/analysis-trends-australian-labour-market [Accessed 25 august. 2018].
Anmf.org.au. (2018). Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation. [online] Retrieved from: https://anmf.org.au/professional-landing Access date: 25 August. 2018.
Apna.asn.au. (2018). Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) is the peak professional body for nurses working in primary health care.. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.apna.asn.au/ Access date: 25 Aug. 2018.
Australian College of Nursing. (2018). Australian College of Nursing. [online] Available at: https://www.acn.edu.au/ [Accessed date: 25 Aug. 2018].
Australian Government. (2018), Labor market information, Retrieved from:https://www.jobs.gov.au/labour-market-information-portal, Access date: 28 Mar. 2018
Australian institute of health and welfare,(2018) . Health & welfare expenditure, Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-statistics/health-welfare-overview/health-welfare-expenditure/overview. Access date: 25August. 2018
Australian Institute of Health. (2012). Residential Aged Care in Australia 2010-11: A Statistical Overview (No. 36). AIHW.
Bennetts, W., Pinches, A., Paluch, T., & Fossey, E. (2013). Real lives, real jobs: Sustaining consumer perspective work in the mental health sector. Advances in mental health, 11(3), 313-325.
Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford University Press.
Griffith, M. B. (2012). Effective succession planning in nursing: a review of the literature. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(7), 900-911.
Henderson, S., Barker, M., & Mak, A. (2016). Strategies used by nurses, academics and students to overcome intercultural communication challenges. Nurse education in practice, 16(1), 71-78.
King, D., Wei, Z., & Howe, A. (2013). Work satisfaction and intention to leave among direct care workers in community and residential aged care in Australia. Journal of aging & social policy, 25(4), 301-319.
National mental health commission., (2018). Economics of Mental Health in Australia ,Retrieved from :https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/media-centre/news/economics-of-mental-health-in-australia.aspx, Access date: 25August. 2018.
Tamam, E. (2018). Intercultural Communication at Workplaces: Difficulties as Voiced by Local and Expatriate Managers. Jurnal Komunikasi, Malaysian Journal of Communication, 16.
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