It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant challenges in accessing health care due to serious workforce shortages, geographic isolation and socioeconomic disadvantage. This results in rural people having poorer quality of life, and long-term poor health outcomes. Primary health care is the entry point into the health system. It includes care delivered in community settings such as general practice, health centres and allied health practices. It can be delivered via telehealth where face-to-face services are unavailable. But there is a critical shortage of general practitioners (GPs) in rural areas. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) paints a grim picture of an ageing GP workforce, a declining interest in general practice as a career choice and unequal distribution of GPs between urban and rural areas. Experts are searching for ways to "fix the GP crisis", but we can look at the broader picture and ask: "How else might we address the primary health care needs of rural communities?" Highly trained nurses in rural areas could be part of that response - if we support them properly.
a. Relate this scenario and answer what profession means in the context of nursing?
b. Relate this scenario and answer what discipline means in the context of Nursing?