Nursing Essay: Increasing Cancer Patient Rate in Wyndham

Question

Task: As we have seen in previous studies, vulnerable populations are influenced by various determinants of health. Vulnerability can be diverse and is something every nurse should try to minimise. Discuss how and why your population is vulnerable, and what determinants of health contribute to this. Your writing should include discussion of the nurse’s role with regards to health education, empowerment and health literacy, and how these factors may influence care for this group of people. You should also mention the connection to health promotion, community health and primary health care.

Instructions: For this nursing essay, you are to focus on the target group. You should first explain who your chosen group are and why they are vulnerable, describing (and supporting with evidence) the determinants of health that are contributing to their vulnerable state. In the following paragraphs, explain the nurse’s role in relation to each key concept in the topic: health education, empowerment and health literacy- specifically for this group. In these paragraphs, you might make a small mention of how practice might be different for other populations? Or how these concepts might influence nursing practice or health outcomes for your target group? Where appropriate, also include how the nurse’s role and the vulnerable population relate to the bigger picture- health promotion, community health or primary health care. Remember the purpose of this task is to demonstrate your understanding of key concepts in the topic. Do you understand how the nurse’s role and practice is influenced by the people they care for? Can you explain how the nurse’s practice might drive change for the individual and/or the whole community? Make sure you demonstrate good understanding of each concept, the nurse’s role, and make connections to how they may influence positive or negative health outcomes.

Answer

Introduction
The region considered in this nursing essay is Wyndham, a suburban city situated in the southwest direction of Melbourne, Australia which is tagged as the sickest place of Victoria by Social Health Atlas of Australia under the guidance of the University of Adelaide (Theage.com.au, 2015). A quarter of women here smoke regularly which eventually leads to lung and mouth cancer. The obsession for unhealthy diets without any fibre and vitamins is increasing day by day which leads to colon cancer. Being a hub for immigrants, the health of the immigrants and refugees of Wyndham is being a huge concern for the Australian government and the cancer patient rate is on the higher side than the other diseases (Theage.com.au, 2015).

Choice of the target group
Among the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Australia is one of the nations with proper health schemes and policies. During a survey named Social Health Atlas of Australia conducted by The University of Adelaide, it was found that the suburb is the sickest place in Victoria and residents suffer serious health issues because of that (Atlantis et al. 2017). This survey was done in 2006, indicates that residents of Wyndham constantly suffer from cancer because of their unhealthy diet, smoking, and pollution. According to the current survey, the residents have a high percentage of cancer level than the other cities of Australia (Theage.com.au, 2015). In the survey, it is shown that around 342 people were suffering from cancer in the 100000 population. For men, the cancer rate is almost 356 in 100000 men. For women, the rate has increased and it is around 327 in 100000 women. They generally do not intake healthy food or live in a healthy environment and smoke regularly. The continuous intake of unhealthy junk and oily food rich in fat and sugar and the smoke from cigarette and pollution increases the cancer rate while decreasing the level of physical activities and thus increases the other chances of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc (Lewycka et al. 2018).

Causes of vulnerabilities among the Wyndham
The health issues along with the cancer issue in residents of Wyndham have a direct connection with the industrialization which was started in the 80s (Theage.com.au, 2015). While in the 80s as industrialization started a lot of opportunities for work increased and people were swarming to access the opportunity for a better life and the native of Wyndham faced a lot of disadvantages and discriminations (Venketasubramanian, 2021). Because of industrialization and the new immigration policy of then government, they started having issues with their own lands, and finally, they lost their resources. This caused vulnerability among the residents of Wyndham and they started their lives in misery (Venketasubramanian, 2021). The extreme level of poverty and the increasing number of refugees and immigrants from the third-world countries led them to choose an unhealthy lifestyle in an unhygienic environment. Refugees started migrating to Wyndham in search of a better life and got addicted to cheap junk foods to satisfy their hunger (Theage.com.au, 2015). Around 74 percent of Wyndham residents had an inactive life and only 2.5 percent of residents eat vegetables while 5they have 3000 hectares of farm. Because of the high costs of healthy food items, they chose a diet plan with high saturated fat, low dietary fiber, and vitamin C, which also indicates their socio-economical status (Wilson & Abbott, 2018). The continuous intake of unhealthy junk and oily processed food rich in fat and sugar along with pollution and regular cigarette consumption increased the disease rate while decreasing the level of physical activities and thus increased the chances of different types of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.

Role of nurse in promoting health
1: Impact of health education
Once the people of Wyndham had lost their basic right of education and a healthy lifestyle and they were so stuck in work for a better lifestyle. So they had a minimum idea about the unhealthy lifestyle they accepted and the impacts of it on their health. The nurses under the health project designed by the government help to promote awareness through health education (Douglass et al. 2021). The nurses used education as a strategy to make the residents of Wyndham understand the impact of unhealthy lifestyles and cancer in their lives (Theage.com.au, 2015). Nurses tried to teach them about the food they were having every day and the bad effects of it and the cigarettes and encouraged them to follow the 12 goals including diet and exercises for a healthy lifestyle. Because of the health education, there was a slight improvement in their daily diet and they had started doing physical activities. Even women had shown great enthusiasm while doing these physical activities (Giambi et al. 2019). Sam Read, a nurse started taking classes for adolescent people to make them aware of cancer and peer group activities and support groups were started for the cancer patients. In a study, it was noticed that people accepted it well and started following the goals to achieve a healthier lifestyle.

2: Impact of empowerment
Australian Government along with the nurses had tried to empower the community to accept a better lifestyle and for that reason, they had launched several new policies. They put focus on environmental change in workplaces and schools (Theage.com.au, 2015). They tried to change the menu in the schools and workplace canteens and encouraged them to do gardening and other developmental works (Giambi et al. 2019). Cigarettes were restricted and pollution was kept under check so that they could deal with an increased rate of cancer patients. The nurses mainly targeted the people who were already given a lot of support to the idea of a healthy lifestyle. Due to the sudden change in lifestyle, they were able to prevent many types of cancer in the next few years. Socio-economic disparities were getting reduced day by day and they were able to access healthy foods. Nurses all through the time were there along with the Government to empower the residents to have a better cancer-free life.

3: Impact of health literacy
Spreading the literacy-related to health was done by Sam Read and other nurses and this had eventually a huge impact on the lives of the residents of Wyndham (Theage.com.au, 2015). Sam Read tried to address the health issues so that they do not become a burden to the residents and the government. The current Government also used these nurses to promote and give better healthcare instructions (Giambi et al. 2019). In recent years they have established a few charities to provide funds for fitness classes, cancer awareness programs, nutrition programs, etc. People were taught about the bad effects of their unhealthy diets in the schools and workplaces and they were motivated to indulge themselves in more physical activities (Giambi et al. 2019). Cancer awareness was spread. As a result of the health literacy, few actions were taken like the restriction of junk food in the school and office premises, restriction in the marketing of junk foods, subsidizing the cost of the good and healthy food, change in the recipe of the processed food to cut down the sugar and fat content, building infrastructure to promote the good effects of exercise, promoting the idea of active transportation and building proper infrastructure for it, restricting the cigarettes, checking on pollution, awareness programs for cancer, support group activities for cancer patients, etc.

Impact of appropriate nursing practices on community welfare
Appropriate nursing practices can have huge positive impacts on community welfare. The constant effort to serve the community to have a better and healthy life is one of the impacts of nursing practices. Nurses spread awareness and make people aware of their health and different health conditions and how to take care of themselves (Giambi et al. 2019). They provide the care with utmost dedication to the patients to save their lives. Community health addresses the overall health of a community which has an impact on the environment, community abilities, and resiliency of several health care issues. Nurses working with a tribe, provide the knowledge to encourage and motivate the public for a healthy lifestyle which will help to grow the overall economy and health status of the nation (Atlantiset al. 2017). Health checkups, immunization processes, giving out information about the proper diet, and offering health care and health education to the people, are the main focus of the nurses. While implementing any governmental or nongovernmental health plans, nurses are the pillars for a successful health plan and the role of the nurses is quite undeniable while building a strong nation.

Conclusion
Being a hub for immigrants, the health of the immigrants and refugees of Wyndham is being a huge concern for the Australian government and the cancer patient rate is on the higher side than the other diseases. According to the current survey, the residents have a high percentage of cancer level than the other cities of Australia. The continuous intake of unhealthy junk and oily processed food rich in fat and sugar along with pollution and regular cigarette consumption, increased the disease rate while decreasing the level of physical activity and thus increased the chances of different types of cancers. Sam Read, a nurse started taking classes for adolescent people to make them aware of cancer, and peer group activities and support groups were started for the cancer patients. Nurses working with a community, provide the knowledge to encourage and motivate the public for a healthy lifestyle which will help to grow the overall economy and health status of the nation. While implementing any governmental or nongovernmental health plans, nurses are the pillars for a successful health plan and the role of the nurses is quite undeniable while building a strong nation.

References
Atlantis, E., Joshy, G., Williams, M., & Simmons, D. (2017). Diabetes among M?ori and other ethnic groups in New Zealand. In Diabetes mellitus in developing countries and underserved communities (pp. 165-190). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from: http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/41086/1/pdf.119#page=172

Douglass, C. H., Block, K., Horyniak, D., Hellard, M. E., & Lim, M. S. (2021). Addressing alcohol and other drug use among young people from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds: Perspectives of service providers in Melbourne, Australia. Health & Social Care in the Community. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hsc.13355

Giambi, C., Del Manso, M., Marchetti, G., Olsson, K., Ali, K. A., Declich, S., ... & Ramsay, M. (2019). Immunisation of migrants in EU/EEA countries: Policies and practices. Vaccine, 37(36), 5439-5451. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X1930845X

Lewycka, S., Clark, T., Peiris-John, R., Fenaughty, J., Bullen, P., Denny, S., & Fleming, T. (2018). Downwards trends in adolescent risk-taking behaviours in New Zealand: Exploring driving forces for change. Retrieved from: https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/2292/43551/Lewycka%20et%20al.,%202018.pdf?sequence=2

Theage.com.au (2015). Wyndham region home to Victoria's sickest suburbs Retrieved on: 13th April, 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/wyndham-region-home-to-victorias-sickest-suburbs-20150527-ghb05g.html Venketasubramanian, N. (2021). Stroke Epidemiology in Oceania: A Review. Neuroepidemiology, 1-10. Retrieved from: https://www.karger.com/Article/PDF/512972

Wilson, R., & Abbott, J. H. (2018). Age, period and cohort effects on body mass index in New Zealand, 1997–2038. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 42(4), 396-402. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/1753-6405.12804