Principles of Primary Healthcare Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Healthcare

Skin Cancer in Australia

Question 1

All over the world, healthcare is one of the most critical aspects of human life. Governments, as well as various institutions, have invested heavily in ensuring that their citizens are free from problems associated with healthcare. A nation whose citizens are healthy is likely to be more developed in terms of the economy, socially and politically. Healthcare issues should not be taken for granted in that it plays a significant role in determining the future and the prosperity of a people as a society (Snoswell, Caffery, Whitty, Soyer & Gordon, 2018). Healthcare covers a wide range in that; people must be extra careful to ensure that their health is not in danger of contracting diseases. There are various diseases which are very dangerous to society. These diseases can be preventable if the right measures are taken into consideration.

In Australia, skin cancer is a big problem. It is reported that skin cancer is more prevalent to the males of 70 years and above. According to the research conducted recently, it was established that in every three Australians, there are high chances that two of them have skin cancer. It shows that more than half of the Australian population has skin cancer. It is also said that skin cancer is more in men than the women in Australia, and thus more men are in danger of the disease than women. The condition is, therefore, a challenge in Australia, and it calls for everyone to act responsibly in finding ways to eradicate the disease amongst themselves.

The skin cancer, according to the scientists, it is a disease caused as a result of the exposure to the ultraviolet radiations of the sun. These rays from the sun cause some damage to the skin DNA, which destroys the skin cells. Once the skin cells are damaged, they need to be repaired by the internal DNA repair machinery of the body. If the damages are not repaired, the faulty or damaged cells replicate triggering the abnormal growth of cells (Furness, Climstein, Hing & Walsh, 2016). As a result of that, the skin cancer occurs.

The skin cancer amongst the Australians is associated with their environment. The environment in Australia does not favor the people in that their skin does not have the mechanism to prevent them from the rays of the sun, which causes the damages in the skin. The people with light skin such as the Australians are widely exposed to the disease because they lack the skin pigment to protect them from the rays of the sun. It is, therefore, an issue which is very difficult to counter due to the environmental factor, which is almost impossible to control.

Question 2

The governments in Australia have worked very hard in trying to develop the best ways of preventing and handling skin cancer patients. The government-sponsored programs have enabled the healthcare facilities to offer the best services to their patients and thus helping in the prevention of the disease. The government, through their qualified doctors, has undergone some thorough training in the best ways the skin cancer patients should be treated and handled (Snoswell, Caffery, Whitty, Soyer & Gordon, 2018). The health care facilities have enough resources for the treatment of the diseases. In terms of the technology, the government has ensured that the right technology is used in the treatment of the patients, and thus the condition can be treated.

Early detection is another way of curbing the disease. People should always check with their doctors about their health. Early detection of the disease will improve health in dealing with the condition to some extent. When the disease is detected at an early stage, the patient may survive, and treatment of the disease becomes easy (Furness, Climstein, Hing & Walsh, 2016). The Australians have always been urged to ensure that they go for frequent medical checkups so that they may know about their health. Health checkup is an essential practice, especially among the elderly in society, and people should develop the trend of checking their health for better health.

Prevention is better than cure. People should always strive in ensuring that they employ preventive measures to curve the skin cancer problem caused by environmental factors. The healthcare practitioners have advised on the best preventive ways of keeping away from the disease. People should practice these preventive measures such as wearing protective clothes, style hat, as well as using shades among many others (Melaku, et al. 2018). These are the best protective measures according to the researchers, which will help a big deal in eradicating the disease in society.

There is need to keeping the environment conducive for human survival. The skin cancer is primarily associated with the environmental factors where the excessive sunlight rays damage the skin cell, causing the disease. It is therefore recommended that the ozone layer should be maintained at the best level it should be. The ozone layer is responsible for the absorption of the ultraviolet rays which hit the earth surface (Pandeya, et al. 2019). It is therefore essential to ensure that the ozone layer is not interfered with through the emission of other toxic gases which interferes with the ozone layer and thus help in protecting people from direct sunlight rays.

Question 3

Principles of primary healthcare are very critical in the fight against skin cancer in Australia. These principles play a significant role in ensuring that the people are well informed about the disease as well as receiving the best medication from the healthcare facilities. The government has gone ahead to empower its people by ensuring that the condition is no longer a threat but can be addressed in the best ways possible. The government, through the programs, has ensured that the right technology in the treatment of the disease is used in the healthcare facilities. The medical personnel have the best training in terms of technology. Through the use of their sophisticated machines, the disease can be detected at a very early stage (Abbott & Smith 2018). By early detection of the disease, it becomes very easy to treat the infection before it goes to the more advance stage. The program has, therefore helped in the prevention of the disease in a much more advanced way.

In terms of the accessibility to the healthcare facility, the government has ensured that there are enough healthcare facilities which are well equipped with modern facilities as well as enough doctors. Patients of skin cancer can get very urgent attention from the doctors. The Australian hospitals have specialized in the treatment of the disease and as a result of their specialization, everyone regardless of the age; gender or race can be treated in those hospitals (Leiter, Keim, Eigentler, Katalinic, Holleczek, Martus & Garbe 2017). With that regard, equality is most valued where the patients are treated without any form of discrimination by the medical personnel.

The governments of Australia have been very concerned about the health of their citizens. As a result, the government has gone ahead to ensure that skin cancer patients receive affordable and quality medical attention. The hospitals for the treatment of cancer do not charge a lot of fee to the patients. The government pays most of the medical treatment of skin cancer patients, and thus the patients don’t find it hard to treat the disease. The government offers most of the medicines in the effort to cushion the sick (Apalla, Lallas, Sotiriou, Lazaridou & Ioannides 2017). In that regard, the patients find it easy to cope with the disease and thus continue with the treatment.

Question 4

The government is responsible for ensuring that it develops some health promotion strategies that will help the people in fighting the disease. These health promotion strategies include the following: first, the government should come up with public health policies, which will help the citizens to keep away from the skin cancer-causing element (Furness, Climstein, Hing & Walsh, 2016). The policies should be meant to ensure that people keep away, and they develop some behaviors which will help them avoid contracting the disease. The government can ensure that people adhere to the standards meant to protect the people of the illness as well as wearing some protective clothes, among others.

Secondly, the government should come up with the best ways of creating an enabling environment for all vulnerable people. The government should work hard to ensure that people are not exposed to direct sunlight in their places of work by creating some shades all over. The shades will prevent people from direct sunlight rays. The government should also ensure that its people are well protected by discouraging the omission of harmful gases into the atmosphere, which results in skin cancer (Esteva 2017). If these measures are taken into consideration, people will not suffer from the disease.

Question 5

There is a need to improve the health promotion program to meet the demand of the affected groups better. One of the ways is through the increase of more funding into the program by the government. The government needs to increase the allocation of more funds into the program to ensure that all the vulnerable, including the elderly, are reached. Some of the people from poor backgrounds do not get access to the medical facility due to lack of hospital bill. Most of the people find it very expensive, and as a result, they fail to attend to the hospital, and their health conditions worsen, which later leads to the death of the patients (Snoswell, Caffery, Whitty, Soyer & Gordon, 2018). It is therefore vital for the government to increase their funding to cater for the hospital bills of these people from the poor backgrounds and thus safe lives.

Bibliography

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patients and practitioners. Australasian Journal of Dermatology, 59(3), pp.168-170.

Apalla, Z., Lallas, A., Sotiriou, E., Lazaridou, E. & Ioannides, D., 2017. Epidemiological trends

in skin cancer. Dermatology practical & conceptual, 7(2), p.1.

Esteva, A., Kuprel, B., Novoa, R.A., Ko, J., Swetter, S.M., Blau, H.M. & Thrun, S., 2017.

Dermatologist-level classification of skin cancer with deep neural networks. Nature, 542(7639), pp.115-118.

Furness, J., Climstein, M., Hing, W. A., & Walsh, J., 2016, Lifetime prevalence of non-

melanoma and melanoma skin cancer in Australia surfers. In 2nd Science of Sport, Exercise and Physical Activity in the Tropics conference.

Leiter, U., Keim, U., Eigentler, T., Katalinic, A., Holleczek, B., Martus, P. & Garbe, C., 2017.

Incidence, mortality, and trends of nonmelanoma skin cancer in Germany. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 137(9), pp.1860-1867.

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Pandeya, N., Olsen, C. M., Thompson, B. S., Dusingize, J. C., Neale, R. E., Green, A. C., ... &

QSkin Study, 2019, Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug use and keratinocyte cancers: a large population‐based cohort study of skin cancer in Australia. British Journal of Dermatology, 181(4), 749-760.

Snoswell, C. L., Caffery, L. J., Whitty, J. A., Soyer, H. P., & Gordon, L. G., 2018, Cost- effectiveness of skin cancer referral and consultation using teledermoscopy in Australia. JAMA dermatology, 154(6), 694-700.

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