Cultural competence of mainstream health services and systems roundtable

Forty-three people attended the roundtable on 20 and 21 November 2014, in Melbourne. Participants included representatives from the Aboriginal community controlled health sector, health service providers, professional health bodies, government agencies, universities and research.

Aim

The aim of the roundtable was to identify priorities for collaborative research to develop the evidence base on how to build workplaces, service delivery and health systems that provide optimal care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The roundtable’s scope was wide-ranging: from the skills and knowledge of individual health workers, to the approaches of professions and occupations, to the programs through which both personal health care and community and public health programs are undertaken, to the operational policies and leadership that shape health care delivery at clinical unit and health service level, and to the ‘high policy’ of health systems and governments.

Outcomes

Two distinct areas of research were identified:

1. Workforce development with a particular focus on the effectiveness of cultural competence training and the interaction between training (learner outcomes), practice (how individuals implement training in the workplace), workplaces (systemic barriers which prevent learning form being applied) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes
2. Health systems change with an emphasis on hospital good practice, the patient journey and health outcomes.

Related resources

• Roundtable report
• Background document
• Presentation: Organisational cultural competency: The research evidence, Ms Mandy Truong, Centre for Health Equity, The University of Melbourne
• Presentation: Health workforce development and Indigenous health curriculum, Professor Shaun Ewen, Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, The University of Melbourne
• Presentation: Cultural Competence? (Awareness? … Safety?): Avoiding the terminology trap, Professor Dennis McDermott, Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Well-Being, Flinders University

Current approaches to cultural competence across the health system:

• Presentation: Does cultural safety training influence the practice of nurses and midwives with Indigenous patients? Associate Professor Wendy Edmondson, Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Wellbeing, Flinders University
• The role of cultural competency in the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people, Ms Tanya McGregor, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Standing Committee.
• Presentation: Cultural competence and mainstream health services, Dr Mark Wenitong, Apunipima Cape York Health Council and Associate Professor (Adjunct), School of Public Health, James Cook University
• Presentation: Continuous Quality Improvement approach to improving the cultural competency of hospitals: A practical approach to system change, Mr John Willis, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne

Reference group members:

• Gail Garvey, Menzies School of Health Research & Lowitja Institute Research Leader
• Judith Dwyer – Professor, Health Care Management, Flinders University & Lowitja Institute Research Leader
• Deb Butler, Office of Aboriginal Health Policy & Engagement, Department of Health, NT Government & NATSIHSC representative
• Angela Durey, School of Dentistry, The University of Western Australia
• Shaun Ewen, Poche Centre, The University of Melbourne
• Suzanne Ingram, The George Institute
• Karen Mills, Central Queensland Medicare Local
• Ariana Tutini, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
• Roianne West, Griffith University.

Facilitator

• Cindy Shannon – Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Education), The University of Queensland