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HNN348 - Rural & Remote Area Nursing Assignment - Deakin University, Australia

Purpose of assessment task - This assessment task provides you with the opportunity to critically analyse and synthesise information from different academic sources and apply your knowledge of issues faced by nurses working in rural and remote areas of Australia, ensuring access to improved health outcomes.

Topic background - Registered nurses need to have up to date knowledge and skills in order to provide appropriate health care for people living in rural and remote areas. Many rural and remote areas in Australia experience more natural disasters than many metropolitan areas.

Case study -

You are a registered nurse working in a small health service in a rural town in far north Queensland, 5km inland from the coast. The town has a population of approximately 1,500 people, however, it also often has a large transient tourist population throughout the year.

The health service offers accident and emergency, acute care and aged care services and has visiting specialist services throughout the year (e.g. respiratory medicine, gynecology). During business hours there are two doctors on site, and after hours they are only available on call. The hospital is staffed by four registered nurses during the day, with two registered nurses and two enrolled nurses staffing the night shift.

You are working the morning shift and the health service has just been alerted that a cyclone has formed off the coast and is expected to make landfall in the next 24-48 hours. All staff will need to be ready for all phases of the disaster management continuum; pre-incident, incident, and post-incident phases.

Assignment Question - Using the case study above, answer the following questions:

1. Describe two (2) safety and/or ethical issues that registered nurses might encounter when working in small health services in their home community when disasters such as cyclones occur (approx. 500 words).

2. Addressing the safety/ethical issues identified in question 1, discuss relevant strategies the registered nurse could implement to improve safety for clinicians and their patients in these circumstances. In your answer, identify two (2) professional resources that the registered nurse can use to provide evidence based safe practice in this situation (approx. 700 words).