Assessment 2: Analysis of Current Australian Health Care Issues

Assignment Type: Essay

Assignment Description: Analysis of current issues

Weighting: 50%

Word count: 1500

Unit Learning Outcomes:

• 2. Explore the evolving roles of the nurse in the health care environment.
• 4. Analyse current research trends in the health care environment and their translation to nursing practice.

Assessment Instructions

This assessment requires you to write an essay on a contemporary nursing issue for your peers. An essay has an introduction, body and conclusion. In the body the paragraphs need to flow with good linkage.

Topic: Nursing Workloads in Contemporary Healthcare and Patient Care in Australia

Layout and headings

Introduction
A good introduction is interesting and tells the reader:

• What the essay is all about- provide definitions and references
• A little bit about why this is important
• Outlines for the reader what you will be discussing in the rest of the essay.

Body
Using logical well-formed paragraphs discuss the following:

• What does nursing workloads involve?
• What do nursing workloads involve? Administration, patient care etc
• What factors impact on nursing workloads?
• Discuss what impacts nursing workloads? ie shortages, skill mix etc

Staffing

• Long hours working
• Skill mix
• Management style

Nursing workloads and nurses

• How does nursing workloads impact on nurses? – consider both positive and negative aspects.

Nursing workloads and patient outcomes

• Consider how nursing workloads impact on patient healthcare outcomes and the care we provide – consider positive and negative aspects.

Conclusion

• A ‘good’ conclusion should summarise all the points raised within the discussion. Please note there should be NO references within your conclusion as no new information should be presented here.

References
This should include an alphabetical full end text reference list of all in-text references used. Please note that online referencing software systems are usually incorrect. You need to follow the APA 7 style as per the ECU referencing guide. This can be downloaded from the library. This assignment requires a minimum of 10 references with at least 5 of these being academic journal articles. The references should be no older than 5 years. However, some material related to this topic is older so references up to 10 years can be used as long as the information has not been superseded. All references need to be from reputable sources. Do not use lecture notes as references.