Working well strategies to strengthen the workforce of the Indigenous primary healthcare sector.pdf (724.66 kB)
Working well: Strategies to strengthen the workforce of the Indigenous primary healthcare sector
journal contribution
posted on 2021-06-02, 01:03 authored by C Jongen, J McCalman, Sandra Campbell, R FaganBackground: The capacity of the Indigenous primary healthcare (PHC) sector to continue playing a crucial role in meeting the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is in large part reliant on the skills, motivation and experience of its workforce. While exhibiting many workforce strengths, the sector faces significant challenges in building and maintaining a strong and stable workforce. Drawing on data from one Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS), this study reports what is working well and what could be improved to strengthen the Indigenous PHC sector workforce. Methods: Using grounded theory methods, interviews with 17 ACCHS staff from a range of organisational positions were transcribed, coded and analysed. This paper focuses on the strategies identified that contribute towards strengthening the Indigenous PHC workforce. Results: Four overarching strategies for Indigenous PHC workforce strengthening were identified. These were Strengthening Workforce Stability, Having Strong Leadership, Growing Capacity, and Working Well Together. A range of enabling factors at the macro, community, organisational and individual levels were also identified. Conclusion: Indigenous PHC services are already implementing many important workforce-development strategies that are having a positive impact on the sector. There are also several persistent challenges which need to be addressed through action at organisational and structural levels. Approaches to workforce strengthening in Indigenous PHC should be tailored to local needs to ensure they address the unique workforce challenges experienced in different contexts.
Funding
The study was funded by the Lowitja institute. Lowitja did not play any role in the design of the study or collection, analysis, and interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript.
History
Publication Date
2019-11-29Journal
BMC Health Services ResearchVolume
19Issue
1Article Number
910Pagination
12p.Publisher
Springer NatureISSN
1472-6963Rights Statement
The Author reserves all moral rights over the deposited text and must be credited if any re-use occurs. Documents deposited in OPAL are the Open Access versions of outputs published elsewhere. Changes resulting from the publishing process may therefore not be reflected in this document. The final published version may be obtained via the publisher’s DOI. Please note that additional copyright and access restrictions may apply to the published version.Publisher DOI
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No categories selectedKeywords
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineHealth Care Sciences & ServicesIndigenousAboriginalWorkforcePrimary health careCommunity controlMEDICAL-SERVICESDIABETES CAREWORKERSLESSONSAustraliaGrounded TheoryHealth Care SectorHealth Services ResearchHealth Services, IndigenousHumansOceanic Ancestry GroupPrimary Health CareStaff DevelopmentHealth Policy & Services