Health professionals working in remote Australia have demanding and stressful yet diverse and rewarding roles. The health domain literature examines the challenges of health service delivery non-cognisant of the benefits of a human resource management (HRM) approach. This systematic literature review uses an HRM approach to examine what is already known on this topic, and to identify key extant themes in order to determine: 1) which factors are common across the entire remote health workforce; and 2) whether there are factors that are unique to working in remote Indigenous communities that need further consideration. The findings suggest that the challenges and rewards are similar for health professionals working in remote Indigenous communities and those working in rural and remote regions. Therefore, the emergent themes (personal, professional, organisational and contextual) presented within a conceptual framework in this article are pertinent for all health professionals working in remote Australia.Nursing in an isolated community is certainly different . . . We hardly knew each other and now we were going to be living and working closely together for the next year or so in a place we didn't know, with people whose languages we didn't understand . . . We learnt to appreciate Key points 1 HRM approaches complement those currently used in the health domain for analysing remote workforce challenges. 2 Workforce challenges in remote regions and remote Indigenous communities are more similar than different. 3 Evidence-based HRM theories relevant to the remote health workforce challenges are identified. 4 The literature synthesis provides a sound framework for further research. ThemesThe emergent themes were: Personal, Professional, Organisational and Contextual. These themes were identified through analysis of the factors identified in the literature review and were synthesised to develop the conceptual framework. The impact of these factors on the remote health workforce is examined in the discussion section of this article. A more detailed explanation of each factor is presented in Table 3 together with an explanation of 52 Note 1 ARIA categories geographically classify areas that share common characteristics of remoteness (e.g. road distance to key service centres).
Objective: To describe and characterise treated psychotic disorders in the Indigenous populations of Cape York and the Torres Strait. Design: Cross‐sectional analysis of patients with a psychotic disorder identified by treating psychiatrists. Setting and participants: Indigenous patients aged ≥ 15 years in Cape York and Torres Strait communities receiving treatment for a psychotic disorder over 3 months in 2010. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of psychosis diagnoses, intellectual disability, and substance use comorbidities. Results: 171 patients were included. The prevalence rate in this population was 1.68%, higher for males (2.60%) than females (0.89%), and twice as high in the Aboriginal (2.05%) than in the Torres Strait Islander (0.95%) population. High rates of alcohol and cannabis use were found. Comorbid intellectual disability was common and more frequent among Aboriginal patients. Conclusions: The burden of psychosis in the Indigenous population of Cape York and the Torres Strait is high. Further research is needed to understand the social determinants of these disorders and to design effective social and clinical measures to alleviate this burden.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has seen a shift in remote work from being a discretionary flexible work policy to a mandatory requirement for several workplaces. This ‘forced flexibility’ has meant that organisations and their employees have had to adapt swiftly to new requirements and arrangements for how work is done. Working remotely, often at home in ‘virtual workspaces’, has become commonplace for many employees across Australia and globally. Drawing on findings from two qualitative phases of research in an Australian resources company, we use conservation of resources theory to explore the factors influencing processes related to wellbeing and productivity for employees working remotely in the COVID-19 environment. We identify challenges associated with working remotely, as well as important resources for wellbeing and productivity. Practical implications are also discussed.
The challenges for health professionals working in remote regions are diverse, particularly where voluntary turnover is high. This study examined the influence of management practices on workforce sustainability in remote regions of northern Australia using human resource management (HRM) policy choices. In this study, 24 semi-structured interviews with HR managers, health professionals and health managers revealed that the impact of HRM policy choices on remote workforce sustainability is significantly influenced by management practices. The emergent themes depict work environments where ineffective management practices for recruitment, remuneration, resourcing and relationships have profound consequences. Despite these contextual challenges, examples emerged where effective management practices created stability and improved retention. Hence, the findings suggest that sustainable remote health workforces are achievable where localised management practices improve equity, where employee-manager relationships are fostered, and where there is equitable access to resources and professional development.Keywords: human resource management, management, sustainability, turnover, workforce Key points 1 Management practices influence turnover decisions made in remote regions. 2 Management competence and consistent implementation of HRM policies reduces voluntary turnover. 3 The implementation of localised HRM policies in remote regions improves workforce sustainability.[W]e have to treat the same things the same but different things differently and I don't think that we do that very well . . . for us to have a sustainable health workforce across remote Australia, then I think we need to invest a lot more heavily in management and leadership. (M18)
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