Interview and Reflection
Background and rationale
The participant in my interview was a 52 year-old male who was a truck driver and a sail maker by trade, but is currently unable to work due to his condition. He is fluent in English. Apart from the issue interviewed about, my participant has diabetes mellitus (type two) which he manages using insulin tablets, and myopia which he wears glasses for. The reason I decided to interview my participant was because I knew they have utilised the Australian healthcare a lot recently and had both positive and negative experiences. My interviewee has recently had 3 operations on his left wrist (and is left handed), one of which was an arthrodesis. His injury was sustained during his …show more content…
Another strength of the Australian healthcare system overall, noted in the interview, is the ability for veterans to access healthcare post the time of their service for injuries or conditions sustained during service. When discussed with my participant, he informed me that it made him feel appreciated and recognised for the work he has done for our country. If it had not of been for DVA, my interviewee would not have been able to afford the treatment he needed/needs due to out-of-pocket expenses and the costly price of private healthcare averaging at $200-$300 as a “monthly premium before rebate” ("Compare Health Insurance Policies", 2017). …show more content…
Statistics have shown that when receiving treatment in a public hospital, there is a higher chance (“6.7%”) (Willis & Lewis, 2016) of something going wrong, for example: “contracting an infection, falling or receiving the wrong medication” (Willis & Lewis, 2016), compared to that in private hospitals (“4.1%”) (Willis & Lewis, 2016). Perhaps this is due to the higher demands of working in a public hospital and, as well as this, medical professionals, in particular, nurses, working in public hospitals are “increasingly working twelve hour shifts” (Stimpfel, Sloane & Aiken, 2012) plus “unplanned overtime” (Stimpfel, Sloane & Aiken, 2012). Extensive work hours and statistics similar to those quoted above may have lead to this stigma in not only my interviewee but also many other patients of the Australian healthcare system.