Nurses Occupation In Australia

For decades, America has fought in many different wars with the need of health assistance for their soldiers. The American Red Cross is a worldwide organization that helped during the times of war but also provided a path for scientific advancements. Through the American Red Cross and other organizations of this time, they opened up the doors for women to take the chance to advance in the medical field by participating in scientific experiments and being at the aide of wounded soldiers. During this time of scrutiny, the Great War was a hidden opportunity for the encroachment of medical research with the contribution to the expansion of nursing.

The role of Australian nurses in World War ll was extremely important and without their presence both at the front and at home the death rate of Australian soldiers would have been much higher. Never before in a war were women expected to be at risk as much as the men. They should be acknowledged along with the men who served. World War ll used many more ways to harm people. World War ll involved nuclear power and warfare, genocide, submarines, tanks and was fought in many places/country’s including air, land and the ocean. 1

Nurses worldwide are renown for their immense passion to care, and it is certainly not a profession embarked upon without serious consideration and commitment. Nursing in Australia is a highly regulated and regarded profession, offering enriching work environments with the latest technology at hand. In comparison, nursing in a developing country, such as Malawi, is extremely challenging. Malawi’s population of just over fifteen million people is amongst the poorest in the world and has the lowest number of nurses in the South African Developed Community (Maluwa, Andre, Ndebele & Chilemba, 2012). There are many factors compounding the severe nursing shortage in Milawi. The profession suffers from poor remuneration, and has been critically

Women were involved in all land, sea and air services in support of military efforts. Only five per cent served overseas, most of which were nurses. Though not in combat, many nurses were in danger, some even lost their lives as they worked in or near combat areas. Betty Jeffrey was a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service when she was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore. As a result of incarceration by the Japanese for three and a half years, Betty suffered from Beri Berii, tuberculosis and amoebic dysentery which she never fully recovered from. This exhibits the jeopardy that both women and men face during wartime. Other military services that women assisted in include: The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), The Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS), The Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) and The Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS). Women in these services had a range of duties, from highly approved - officers – to ordinary – drivers, typists, clerks and wireless operators. Australian women were substantially regarded and their roles in society changed immensely.

As a Registered Nurse is a crucial component to ensure that there is effective communication between the nurse and patient. As well as being respectful to the person’s dignity, culture, values, beliefs and rights. This is because everyone is different, and due to this it is important that I am being cautious to each person’s individual needs.

In 1788, several medical staff arrived in Sydney on 'The First Fleet' boat from England. Soon after arriving, The Colonial Medical Service was established to provide basic medical care to the convicts and others in the area. A temporary hospital, The Sydney Infirmary was created in Sydney Cove. The general nursing duties were undertaken by untrained convicts to assist the medical staff. The male assistants looked after the male patients and the female assistants looked after the female patients. Many of the patients were being housed in tents on the hospital grounds. These extremely harsh conditions generated a high death toll, this began the construction of a more permanent convict hospitals at Windsor, Bathurst,

One aspect of nursing that has changed since the early 1800’s is nursing education. There was no question about the credibility of the women providing care to soldiers after the war. For many years untrained nurses and consequently nursing students cared the sick without any supervision. In 1873, the need for educated nurses was sought but was opposed by untrained physicians who thought trained nurses would pose a threat to their jobs (Gary & Hott, 1988). “Nurses have evolved

Over 5000 volunteer nurses’ north and south served in military hospitals during the Civil War. Nurses were of all sorts and came from all over. Women wanted to be involved in this national struggle in any way they could. They did not want to stay home and play their traditional domestic roles that social convention and minimal career opportunities had confined the majority of their sex to. Many women thought of nursing as an extension of their home duties, almost like taking care of “their boys.” They recall the Civil War as a time when their work as nurses made a difference. It gave them an opportunity to prove they had the ability and courage to help.

These female nurses provided medical help for the wounded soldiers at Gallipoli and also on the Western Front. As most of the hospital stations were near the front line many nurses were exposed to aerial bombs and shelling. They were expected to work in primitive conditions; some hospitals were equipped for a mere 520 people yet held 2500 during the wartime. As a result of the long hours and poor conditions many nurses suffered serious illnesses. A total of 2139 Australian nurses served overseas and of these 25 died. Through enduring such adverse conditions nurses proved extreme dedication towards the war effort and their country.

These early nurses were quickly educated on the rigors of war and the primitive accommodations. Hundreds of women lasted little more than a month and for those that did last the work became gratifying and their Christian mission. At the bloodiest moments of the war, nurses braved heat of moment and offered selflessly to treat injured. These ladies

The experiences of Australian women in both World War 1 and World War 2 were similar but also different. WWI was fought from 1914 to 1918, and WW2 was fought from 1939 to 1945. These were the biggest military conflicts in the history of man. The main areas of change in Australian women around these times were employment, roles and positions in the war, and the attitudes towards women at these times. In WW1, the main occupation for Australian women was nursing. In World War 2, however, women were given the opportunity to do ‘a man’s job’ for the first time.

Some had barely seen an operating room, let alone worked in one" (Scannell-Desch, 4). Along with the lack of experience, to make things worse, the nurses would receive 20 to more than 100 patients within a few hours. An army nurse recalled, "The day I arrived in the O.R., we had a 'mass-cal', 185 casualties. They came in Chinooks (large helicopters). They were on the floor, all over. Every Chinook was overloaded…I just remember that every ward in Nam was full. We had body bags lying around the hospital and the morgue was full" (Scanell-Desch, 4).

While Jews were being exterminated all throughout Europe by German powers and Hitler was rising to extreme social levels, Australia were making large improvements towards women and equality in the workforce. At first, The Government were hesitant towards allowing women to perform any kind of military service. Nursing was a popular occupation but also it being a dangerous line of work for women on the home front due to the lack of hygiene resources and general safety hazards that you would encounter in a war zone. Many nurses were stationed in Singapore which was the base for all allied

Your parents and society as a whole may have taught you that job stability relies on job consistency, but is that the best thing for nurses? Permanent nursing jobs may be consistent, but they often come with disadvantages such as long hours, low pay, and working conditions that are lacking in some way. If consistency is considered a better solution, why then are Australian nurses choosing flexibility over consistency in their careers?

In the fall of 1862, a war raged between the union and confederate forces at the Battle of Antietam. More than 130,000 soldiers fought, more than 22,000 were wounded. On the battlefront was a woman, Ms. Clara Barton, nicknamed the “Angel of the Battlefield”. Ms. Barton observed the strain of frontline battle, namely hunger, sickness, and wounds and once said “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them”. (CITATION) It is this same dedication to nursing and our armed forces that drives my philosophy of nursing.