Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
School
School of Nursing and Midwifery
First Supervisor
Professor Lisa Whitehead
Second Supervisor
Associate Professor Sara Bayes
Abstract
Around 85% of Australia’s landmass is remote and sparsely populated. Across these vast areas of desert, wilderness and tropical islands, nurses provide the majority of health care services. The residents of Australia’s remote communities have poorer health status than their metropolitan counterparts. The proportion of Indigenous people is high and health and social disadvantage is widespread. The characteristics of each remote community are unique and often reflect challenges associated with distance to tertiary health services and limited health resources. As a result, nursing practice within this context is very different to other nursing contexts. Despite recognition of Primary Health Care (PHC) as a comprehensive model of acute and preventative care well suited to areas of high health and social need, there is little known about how nurses use the PHC model in practice and research pertaining to this nursing context is limited.
This study was conducted from a Constructivist Grounded Theory perspective to generate a substantive theory. Data were collected through 23 telephone interviews and an expert reference group.
This study adds previously unknown information to the body of work about remote area nursing. The context of providing PHC in a remote setting was described as social with a focus on illness prevention and equality of care. Participants described personal satisfaction as a feeling of making a difference to the health and wellbeing of the community. However, the core issue participants faced was the inability to provide PHC. Four conditions that impacted on the core issue, were described as: understanding of the social world of the remote community, availability of resources, clinical knowledge and skill and, shared understanding and support. The process labelled doing the best you can with what you have emerged as the way participants dealt with the inability to provide PHC. The process involved four primary activities: facilitating access to health care, continually learning, seeking understanding, and home‐making in a work environment. The outcome of this process was considered to be making compromises to provide PHC.
This study proposes a substantive theory to understand and explain Australian remote nursing practice. Recommendations include further exploration, testing and refinement of the substantive theory. The implications for practice include development of education and support programs and the findings promote the case for providing additional resources to health services in remote areas in order to support nurses in providing PHC.
Recommended Citation
McCullough, K. (2018). The delivery of Primary Health Care in remote Australian communities: A Grounded Theory study of the perspective of nurses. Edith Cowan University. Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2153