Article: Wood, K. , Closing the Gap But Still Long Way to Go, Australian Nursing Journal, vol 19, March 9, pg 10
Kathryn Woodford's article is based on the Close the Gap Statement of Intent that was signed by the Rudd Government in March 2008. The article's title, ‘Closing the Gap but still a long way to go' asserts that whilst progress has begun, a lot more ground is still to be covered.
Woodford discusses the struggles of reaching the target and how many methods will need to be enforced to simply commence progress. Woodford's information is gathered from references from Julia Gillard's speech that was published in The Australian, and also a discussion from Jody Broun who gives the Author ideas about the present and future of the "Closing the Gap" statement. Woodford concludes the article by expressing the opinion that the Closing the Gap campaign has not progressed significantly. She suggests that the next step in "Closing the Gap involves partnerships between Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal Communities, the Government of Australia, Health Professionals of Australia and the People of Australia.
For aspiring health professionals, one can conclude from the article that providing evidence to validate your argument is important. The health industry is multi-disciplinary, so it is necessary for all disciplines to work cohesively towards a goal. Partnerships are vital in making progress toward goals and promoting ideas more broadly, especially those expressed in this article
In this article the authors review the influences of pay and job opportunities in respect to job performance, turnover rates and employee motivation in various health care organisations. Their research focused on assessing a range of pay structures such as pay for performance and organisational reward schemes. Mixed methods data was gathered through questionnaires of the hospital Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in Vancouver, Canada to ascertain and identify the main causes of employee turnover and whether it is linked to salary growth. Semi- structured interviews with nine CEOs contrasted statistics to highlight a number of the challenges faced by the senior management in these organisations. This information could apply to other potential health professionals who face similar challenges to those in a hospital setting. This could include community based health professionals such as allied health or paramedic team leaders. These managers also need to understand how to motive and improve performance in order to deliver quality care. As a future paramedic/OT/Physio/etc l will need to identify my own rewards when faced with the challenge of delivering quality care in a system which is continuously changing.