S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

The impetus for this study arose from the researcher’s work as a health service manager and educator for both providers and recipients of mental healthcare services in remote Australia. The researcher spent approximately nine years working in remote Australia, and had the benefit of observing and speaking with an enormous variety of individuals and groups, including nurses, general practitioners, psychiatrists, police, paramedics, administrators, managers and Indigenous health workers, during this time. This experience allowed the researcher to begin questioning and reflecting on the difficulties, complexities and sacrifices of remote general nurses. This diaphanous beginning culminated in the writing of this thesis. 1.2 Personal Experience that Informs the Study The researcher’s interest was galvanized by his most recent employment before commencing in academia. The role was that of a mental health nurse educator, flying by aircraft every second week into the remote community townships of Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands, a health district of approximately 195,000 square kilometres in Far North Queensland, Australia. An essential element of the mental health nurse educator role was travelling to locations as quickly as possible after a ‘major’ incident or sentinel event concerning remote general nurses caring for mental health patients. While this element of the role included a degree of investigation, its substantive purpose was to provide support to the remote general nurses, as opposed to being part of any disciplinary process. After ascertaining what had occurred by reading the nursing notes, incident reports and speaking