Remote Health Professionals

Remote health professionals work in a variety of settings some of which are - railway, mining, pastoral, indigenous, outback towns, island, tourism - and are an integral part of the health care delivery to remote Australia. Remote Area Nurses constitute over fifty per cent of the health work force in remote areas. Aboriginal Health Workers and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers make up forty five percent, and doctors and allied health professionals make up the remaining five per cent. Around 75% of remote health professioanls work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Remote areas present particular challenges to the delivery of quality services - dispersed population, poor health status, diverse cultures, geographic isolation, problematic transport, poor infrastructure, small economic base, limited political clout, harsh extremes of climate and a high turnover of health professionals in all disciplines.

Remote health professionals are typically hard-working, flexibile, adaptable, resourceful and passionate about their work.  Their practice encompasses all of the challenges, and the considerable rewards, of this unique and specialised field of healthcare.