FHL Conference Outcomes 2012_FINAL.pdf

8/12/2019 FHL Conference Outcomes 2012_FINAL.pdf

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Conference Outcomes 2012


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Conference Outcomes 2012 2

Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................ 4

SECTION 1: INDIGENOUS HEALTH STREAM..................................................................................... 7

Outcome 1: Workforce Planning. ............................................................................................................. 7

Outcome 2: Interprofessional practice and training......................................................................... 7

Outcome 3: Supporting Indigenous students ...................................................................................... 8

Outcome 4: Cultural awareness ................................................................................................................ 8

SECTION 2: MENTAL HEALTH STREAM .............................................................................. 9

Outcome 1: Definition and concept of mental health...................................................................... 9

Outcome 2: Stigmatisation of Mental Health in Australia............................................................. 9

Outcomes 3 and 4: Peer support ............................................................................................................. 10

Outcomes 5 and 6: Early Intervention .................................................................................................. 10

Outcome 7: Barriers to Accessing Quality Mental Health Care................................................. 11

SECTION 3: RURAL HEALTH STREAM ............................................................................... 12

Outcome 1: Insufficient Health Workforce planning in Rural and Remote Australia...... 12

Outcome 2: Skills of rural health professionals................................................................................. 12

Outcome 3: Health planning and communities12

Outcome 4: Health planning and communities........13

Outcome 5: Health leadership and Advocacy...13

Outcome 6: Clarity of Roles between Health Professions within the Health System.13

Outcome 7: Clarity of Roles between Health Professions within the Health System.14

Outcomes 8 and 9: Poor Health Literacy in Australia and Public Health.......................... ..... 14

Outcome 10: Cost of fresh food in rural/remote areas................................................................ 14

Outcome 11: Health professions understanding rural issues..................................................... 15


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Outcomes 12 and 13: Community information and services...................................................... 15

Outcome 14: Collaboration between Health and Other Sectors............................................... 15

Outcome 15: Fly In/Out and Drive In/Out Health Professionals............... ................ ............... .. 16

Outcome 16: Rural Health Policy ............................................................................................................ 16

Outcome 17: Incentive Schemes for Rural and Remote Health Professionals..................... 17

SECTION 4: WORKFORCE INNOVATION STREAM.........................................................................18

Outcome 1: Health Workforce planning.............................................................................................. 18

Outcomes 2 and 3: Planning and migration ...................................................................................... 18

Outcome 4: Recruitment ................................................................................................. 18

Outcome 5: International aid and workforce sustainability.............. ................. ............... .......... 19

Outcome 6: Extended scopes of practice for health professionals.............. ................ ............. 19

Outcomes 7, 8 and 9: Interprofessional practice and training............... ................ ............... ..... 19

SECTION 5: GLOBAL HEALTH STREAM...........................................................................................20

Outcome 1: Green hospitals...................................................................................................................... 20

Outcome 2: The health in all policiesapproach............................................................................. 20

Outcome 3: Imagining the 21st

Century Health professional.............. ................ ................ ....... 20

APPENDIX A: .......................................................................................................................................21


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2012 CONFERENCE OUTCOMES- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background

The inaugural Future Health Leaders Conference took place in Adelaide over 1-2

September 2012 seeing over 300 of Australias brightest health students and early

career health professionals from across Australia attend. This conference was the

first of its kind, bringing together Australias next generation of health professionals

in an interdisciplinary setting to discuss possible solutions and priorities for the

health issues facing us today and into the future.

The conference focussed on five main streams: Global Health (see page 22),

Indigenous Health (see page 8), Mental Health (see page 10), Rural Health (see page

13) and Workforce Innovation (see page 19). Each stream is detailed in this report

with a list of stream outcomes provided in the Contents section on pages 2-3. Using

this list, the FHL Council prioritised the key outcomes they want to pursue in 2013.

In some cases, FHL has decided to pursue outcomes that either directly match the

conference outcomes or contribute to a group of outcomes.

Key Conference Outcomes

1. Encourage leadership development for students and early career healthprofessionals

2. Future Health Leaders should develop a mentoring database encouragingcurrent health professionals and students to be involved with mentoring

disadvantaged youth to reach their full potential

3. Stakeholder forums between organisations with similar demographics toFuture Health Leaders should be run to develop interprofessional policy and

knowledge sharing between organisations

4. Conduct workforce planning and promotion of Aboriginal & Torres StraitIslander Health Practitioner & Indigenous Liaison Officers in the delivery of

culturally safe practices

5. Expand the number of allied health professions registered under AHPRA andimprove central workforce data collection in rural and remote Australia

6. Continue comprehensive health workforce planning to ensure the rightnumber of health professionals are available at the right time and distributed

where they are needed, according to the collected data

7. Investigate better ways of utilising the generalist skills of rural healthprofessionals


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8. Review the incentive schemes offered to health professionals and students andprovide equitable access and opportunities across health professions

9. Review and implement selected evidence-based recruitment incentives10. Extended scope initiatives must be driven by patient centred care11. Interprofessional education must be incorporated into university health course

curriculum

12. A focus on recruiting and supporting Indigenous students should be a priorityfor tertiary institutions

13. Implementation of a mandatory nationwide curriculum in cultural awarenessand cultural diversity for all health professionals

14. Universities to provide more training in mental health, rural, remote andcultural health

15. Develop a Code of practice for the recruitment of International healthprofessionals (IHPs) for ethical workforce migration

Following the Future Health Leaders Conference, the Council of Future Health

Leaders discussed the key outcomes from the conference. From these discussions

the Council elected to pursue the following outcomes over the next two years:

1) Encourage leadership development for students and early career health

professionals.

Future Health Leaders can play a role in the provision of leadership skills amongst

Australias health students and early career health professionals. Future Health

Leaders should develop health leadership seminars to provide health students and

early career health professionals with the skills and knowledge required to become

actively involved in their current or future organisations, health advocacy for their

community and the health reform process.

2) Mentor future generations.

One of the Conferences greatest success stories was the role of Future Health

Leaders in providing succession planning for the next generation. Future Health

Leaders should develop a mentoring database encouraging current health

professionals and students to focus on mentoring:

(a) disadvantaged youth to reach their full potential(b) early career health professionalswith the aim to find the gaps in current mentoring programs and advocate to fill

these.


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3) Facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration to advance health outcomes for

all Australians.

A highlight from the Conference was the ability to share success stories from

programs developed amongst delegates and from Future Health Leaders key

stakeholders. From this, it has been suggested that Future Health Leaders facilitates

the following:

A platform for sharing success stories or best practice models of healthinnovations across Australia;

Stakeholder forums between organisations with similar demographics toFuture Health Leaders to develop interprofessional policy, knowledge sharing

between organisations and be an active player in health reform;

Develop a resource where health students and early career healthprofessionals can discover innovative programs that they can be involved

with or volunteer with.

4) Continue to engage with health students and early career health professionals.

Delegates saw that Future Health Leaders can play an important role in involving

health students and early career health professionals in the health reform processparticularly from an interprofessional, patient-focused perspective. As such

delegates have called for Future Health Leaders to:

Continue to run a biennial conference; Run local-based Future Health Leaders Forums to continue to engage with

Future Health Leaders members during years where there is no conference;

Develop policy papers for comment on the Future Health Leaders website; Regularly update members on pertinent health issues affecting them; Involve members, where possible, in available consultations with Health

Workforce Australia.

These Conference outcomes have been integrated into the Future Health Leaders

Work Plan 2013-2014.


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Section 1: Indigenous Health Stream

Background

Australian healthcare workers have been bombarded with statistics and figures on

the disparity that exists between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians health.

While government and non-government campaigns have been effective in improving

awareness and support, the next generation of health workers and leaders must not

allow compassion fatigue to overcome them. With fresh, bright minds, students and

early career health professionals should continue to look for innovative andappropriate solutions.

The Indigenous Health stream was a unique experience with meaningful, outcome-

based discussions focused on providing practical ways of being involved and making

a difference. A safe space was provided for honest reflection and exploration of

ideas, with presentations from worldwide and local Indigenous health leaders.

Workforce Planning

There is currently a significant lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

Practitioners and Indigenous Liaison Officers across the health sector. These health

professionals are absolutely vital to ensure the provision of safe and culturally

appropriate healthcare for the First Australians. A call for an emphasis on

appropriate workforce planning for these necessary health professionals is a priority

and needs to include workforce modelling, a supply vs. demand projection for

Aboriginal Health Workers through to 2025 and discussion surrounding appropriate

recruitment of individuals into these roles.

Outcome 1: Conduct workforce planning and promotion of Aboriginal & Torres

Strait Islander Health Practitioner & Indigenous Liaison Officers.

Interprofessional practice and training

Furthermore, it was deemed appropriate for all health professionals to be educated

regarding the role of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner &

Indigenous Liaison Officers and how health professionals can work alongside them to

create best-practice models for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Outcome 2: All tertiary institutions to provide interprofessional training on how to

utilise Indigenous Liaison Officers in the delivery of culturally safe health practices.


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Supporting Indigenous students

The Future Health Leaders Conference called for all tertiary institutions across

Australia to aim for at least the same percentage of Indigenous students, as thereare Indigenous people throughout Australia. Current models at medical schools

mandate that such universities have to have specific quotas of rural medical

students compared with city students. A focus on recruiting, and more importantly

supporting, Indigenous students should also be mandated at university level.

Outcome 3: A focus on recruiting and supporting Indigenous students should be a

priority for tertiary institutions.

Cultural Awareness

This curriculum should outline a minimum set of core competencies that health

students need prior to graduating from university. It will be imperative that such

cultural awareness programs are tailored to specific locations across Australia,

recognising the rich diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture from

region to region throughout Australia. Such programs will need to be developed in

consultation with Aboriginal leaders and need to include on the ground experience

in Indigenous communities.

Outcome 4: Implementation of a mandatory nationwide curriculum in culturalawareness for all health professionals.


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Section 2: Mental Health Stream

Background

In the current health care system, there is a significant disparity between the

treatment and recovery of physical and mental health issues. The health care

system should provide equality in access to care for mental ill health as for physical

ill health. Mental illness accounts for 36% of the burden of disease and is likely to

affect 50% of Australians at some time in their life.

Definition and concept of mental health

The consensus in this stream was that there needs to be a systemic move towards a

new definition of health that includes mental health and wellbeing. Mental health

and wellbeing affects all individuals and should not just be attended to in the event

that an individual becomes severely mentally unwell. To further support this move,

the culture of health care provision needs to prioritise mental health and wellbeing

in service provision by opening with questions such as How are you going?

Outcome 1: Re-conceptualise health to incorporate mental health.

Stigmatisation of Mental Health in Australia

Unfortunately, mental illness is still subject to a myriad of community

misconceptions and stigma. To address this, the Australian community, including

health care professionals, need to increase their awareness and understanding of

mental health concerns.

It is recommended that all health professionals complete undergraduate level,

compulsory mental health training. This recommendation does not imply that health

professionals need to be experts in menta l health assessment and treatment, butrather be aware.

Secondly, it is recommended that all undergraduate health courses include a unit on

communication and interpersonal skills. Scientific research and consumer reports

suggest that talking about wellbeing and mental illness is the most helpful strategy

for coping with this illness. Better arming all health professionals with these skills will

help broaden their ability to identify and help those with an emerging or long-

standing mental illness.

Outcome 2: Compulsory mental health training for all health professionals.


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Peer support

Peer support programs can offer opportunities for carers and consumers to receive

support for mental health issues. Support and forums for discussion about mentalillness aim to provide support, increase awareness and reduce stigma regarding

mental illness. Many community programs have had success in this regard, and it is

recommended that further research be done to investigate the efficacy of such

programs and continue to build on such intervention options.

Outcome 3: Provide peer support services for carers and consumers to manage

mental health issues.

Outcome 4: Further research be done to investigate the efficacy of peer support

programs and continue to build on intervention options.

Early Intervention is Key to Successful Treatment of Mental Illness

Mental health treatment services are often crisis driven, or more specifically,

reactive to presenting concerns rather than proactive. As argued by Professor

McGorry in his keynote presentation, early intervention is the key to best clinical

outcomes in mental health treatment. One barrier to seeking early help is the

national values of stoicism which is part of the Australian culture. Mental health

stream delegates discussed the benefits of opening up and talking about mentalhealth and wellbeing, arguing that this should be a value instilled in children as early

as primary school age and be incorporated into education and community based

policies. This will require leadership across different industries and in the

community and is likely to take generations to change.

Outcome 5: Create an Australian culture of speaking openly about mental health

and seeking help early.

There are a range of community and mental health organisations across Australia

that have developed and delivered early intervention programs and initiatives.

However, there is currently no platform for the sharing of such successes and up

skilling of similar services and clinicians in other localities. It is recommended that an

electronic resource hub be established to promote and distribute successful

community based early intervention programs. Rather than reinventing the wheel,

mental health professionals should be building on each others work to better the

community.

Outcome 6: A resource is established to share the successes of grass roots level

mental health programs.


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Barriers to Accessing Quality Mental Health Care

A key theme arising from stream and keynote speakers focused around access to

mental health services for those of a culturally diverse background. An importantaspect emphasised by delegates was that cultural diversity extends beyond

indigenous and migrant populations and also includes youth and gay, lesbian, and

transsexual populations.

It is recommended that all health professionals complete compulsory cultural

diversity training. It is particularly important to include improved teaching and

understanding of health issues in specific minority populations and adequate skill

development opportunities with these groups (e.g. placements including appropriate

rural & remote, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander, migrant, youth and/or LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) cultural experiences to encourage equality

of access to these often disadvantaged groups).

Outcome 7: Compulsory cultural diversity training in both undergraduate and

postgraduate health courses that includes rural & remote, Aboriginal & Torres

Strait Islander, migrant, youth and/or LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgender) diversity.

As a junior doctor, I cannot imagine a better way of inspiring

me to do better with my career than attending the [Future

Health Leaders] Conference. The vast array of amazing speakers

and the brilliance, enthusiasm and drive to make a difference of

the delegates made it the best conference I have ever

attended."

Michael McGee, Junior Medical Officer


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Section 3: Rural Health Stream

Background

Rural and remote Australia is well known for its challenge in recruitment and

retention of health professionals. Rural communities are often met with

inconsistent services based on fluctuating staffing levels, and health managers are

challenged by the lack of workforce data, especially in the allied health professions

not registered through AHPRA.

Insufficient Health Workforce Planning in Rural and Remote Australia

Currently there is very limited data on allied health professionals across all areas of

Australia, which makes workforce planning difficult especially in rural and remote

areas where there is often a decrease in the number of professionals per person due

to geographical barriers and population size.

Outcome 1: Expand the number of allied health professions registered under

AHPRA and improve central workforce data collection in rural and remote

Australia.

Skills of rural health professionals

Investigate and support advanced scope of practice especially in rural and remote

areas where not all health care providers are available all the time. Provide avenues

to recognise the generalist specialist skills of rural clinicians to assist in career

progression and retention of the rural and remote health workforce. It doesnt

matter who provides the service as long as they are skilled and trained appropriately

in completing that task for it is only the patient that will benefit.

Outcome 2: Investigate better ways of utilising the skills of rural healthprofessionals.

Health planning and communities

Involve communities and grass roots health professionals in identifying the health

care needs of the community to determine what mix of health professionals the

community needs.

Outcome 3: Involve communities in health planning.


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The collection and easy access of epidemiological data will assist rural health

managers in working with communities and local health professionals to beproactive in the delivery of health services required by the community rather than

reactive.

Outcome 4: Enhance and streamline the collection of epidemiological data.

Health Leadership and Advocacy

Health leadership and advocacy are essential skills for rural health professionals in

improving health outcomes of their communities.

Early career health professionals must be skilled in leadership to ensure the health

system is more proactive in the delivery and planning of health services of the

future. Leadership is an important skill to mobilise action in working towards better

health outcomes for all Australians. Likewise, health advocacy from health

professionals will enable health service providers to work with communities when

planning services to ensure services are relevant to the needs of the community.

Outcome 5: Provide health leadership training to students and early career health

professionals and encourage health advocacy.

Clarity of Roles between Health Professions within the Health System

There appears to be uncertainty around the different roles health professionals play

in the health system, which limits the effectiveness of referral pathways and

ultimately patient outcomes. Whilst multi-professional practice is encouraged,

interaction between health professionals still appears to be inefficient. With the

majority of health professions being tertiary trained, universities play a key role in

the development of future health professionals.

Universities should be providing truly multi-professional learning opportunities and

experiences for university students to apply multi-professional teamwork - not just

learn about it theoretically. This could include case studies where students work

together to determine a plan for the patient and discover the important roles each

member has to contribute to patient care.

Outcome 6: Universities to provide better interprofessional learning opportunities.

Health employers also play a key role in facilitating and encouraging good

communication and interaction between health professionals with a focus on patient

centred care. This can be done by removing ownership of the patient from one


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profession to a team or share this role amongst team members based on the needs

of the patient at that point in time (e.g. this could shift from the medical practitioner

to the physiotherapist when the patient goes into rehabilitation before going home).

Health employers also need to encourage clear referral pathways and holistic

discharge planning processes including relevant health professionals as required.

Outcome 7: Health employers to facilitate multi-professional teamwork.

Poor Health Literacy in Australia and Public Health

According to Australias Health 2012 from the Australian Institute of Health and

Welfare, only 40% of Australians have adequate health literacy (p.182). Only 1.7% of

the Australian health budget is spent on public health (p.478) yet it is well

acknowledged that there are many social determinants of health that strongly

influence health outcomes.

Health education and health literacy needs to be taught in schools from primary to

high school and into post school education including university and TAFE sectors.

This is to ensure the community has the capacity to fully understand their health and

the effect life choices have on long-term health outcomes.

Increasing health literacy within communities empowers them to find innovative

ways of improving their health. This needs to be a partnership between healthprofessionals, consumers, local government and media. Encourage communities to

access information and resources from reliable sources and educate community

members about telehealth as a way to access health services where face-to-face

contact is not available. Provide health forums or other ways to provide

communities a say in how health services are delivered.

Outcome 8: Incorporate health education throughout schooling.

Outcome 9: Up skill and empower local communities in making good health

choices.

Cost of fresh food in rural/remote areas

The cost of fresh food in rural and remote Australia is significantly higher than in

metropolitan areas. Currently rural Australians have poorer health outcomes

compared to their city counterparts. Cheaper fresh fruit and vegetables would

encourage rural and remote Australians to consume more fresh food improving

dietary intake likely to reduce prevalence of diet related chronic disease such as type

two diabetes.

Outcome 10: Implement a capped price on fresh fruit and vegetables in rural and

remote Australia.


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Health professions understanding rural issues

There needs to be improved teaching and understanding of rural and remote issues

in university health courses that can be integrated with cultural awareness. Acompetency framework on rural and remote health as well as one on cultural

competency might be a solution.

Outcome 11: Develop and implement university curriculum on rural, remote and

cultural education.

Community information and services

An online calendar of visiting health professionals or health education events for a

community might assist with community members taking ownership of their healthissues and ensure access of health services.

Outcome 12: Provide information for communities on what health services are

available and how to access them.

Increase the capacity of rural areas by supporting the expansion of regional centres

where people are able to access the services and specialist support they need and

therefore decrease the reliance of these services in metropolitan cities. This would

reduce the need for extensive travel for specialist appointments and

accommodation and provide a hub for health professionals to branch into

surrounding towns.

Outcome 13: Support the expansion of regional health centres.

Collaboration between Health and Other Sectors

Traditionally health issues have been left to health departments to fix.

Acknowledging the huge influence social determinants have on health outcomes, the

health sector needs to engage with other sectors including housing, welfare and

education to address health holistically.

Opening the lines of communication between different sectors and sharing of

information will assist in common goals being determined and progressed. All

sectors have a role to play in health outcomes so an acknowledgement of this needs

to be reached to ensure health of the community becomes a priority and a

performance measure of that sector.

Outcome 14: Formalise links between government departments for the sharing of

information to shape policy and planning of health, education, housing and

welfare strategies.


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Fly In/Out and Drive In/Drive Out Health Professionals

These services are often used in rural and remote areas with yearly specialists and

weekly health professionals providing a service where a permanent full time healthprofessional is not practical

It is important that there is consistency of service where these services are provided.

Ideally there would be an opportunity for visiting staff to visit frequently to build and

maintain rapport with the community. This service needs to be of high quality

catering to the needs of the community and engaging and up skilling local health

staff on the ground.

Outcome 15: Ensure consistency of service with frequency of health professional

visits over time.

Rural Health Policy

It appears that health policy in rural and remote Australia often originates from a

policy developed for metropolitan health services. The majority of new health

initiatives are commenced in metropolitan areas and rolled out into rural areas with

little modification. This approach has had limited success so there needs to be a

change in thinking when considering health policies for rural and remote Australia.

One way to improve health policy in rural and remote Australia would be to involverural and remote health managers and clinicians in the development of health policy

to ensure transferability of the policy into rural and remote areas. When a policy is

made for a metropolitan health setting it is often unlikely to work in rural and

remote areas. Health organisations and government need to develop a policy

specifically for rural and remote areas in conjunction with local health staff being

mindful of the effect the policy might have for each community.

Outcome 16: Apply a rural lens to all health policy developed that affects rural

Australia.

Incentive Schemes for Rural and Remote Health Professionals

There are a number of incentive schemes for health professionals and students

undertaking a career in rural health. Although these schemes are prevalent in

medicine, there are limited incentives across allied health and nursing.

Provide equitable access for allied health and nursing professions to incentive

schemes currently available to medical practitioners (e.g. HECS reimbursement

scheme). Cease the bonded medical places program in medicine and replace this

with positive incentives to encourage new graduates to work in rural areas rather

than making them go.


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Outcome 17: Review the incentive schemes offered to health professionals and

students and provide equitable access to these.

This opportunity has opened many doors for me, through

networking with not only other speech pathology studentsbut with other medical/health professionals. A huge thank

you for allowing me to experience this opportunity of a

lifetime, to further my knowledge and to increase my drive

to work in rural and remote Australia.

Caitlin Luke, Speech Pathology Student SA


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Section 4: Workforce Innovation Stream

Background

Australias reliance on health professionals is increasing rapidly, with national

expenditure on health exceeding the rate of economic growth. The forecast health

workforce requirements are influenced by a variety of population-based, clinical and

professional factors. These issues are responsible, in part, for Australias health

workforce burden, directly affecting health service delivery, workforce supply and

the retention of health professionals. Issues affecting workforce imbalances are

multi-faceted, and do not follow a one size fits all approach. Some health

professions face the prospect of an over-supply, with new graduates having to deal

with a shortage of career opportunities, while others face issues of workforce

misdistribution, inappropriate skill mixing, and skill shortages.

Outcome 1: Continue comprehensive health workforce planning to ensure the

right number of health professionals are available at the right time and distributed

where they are needed.

Planning and migration

Workforce issues in Australia should be balanced against global needs. Health

professionals have a right to migrate regardless of whether this leads to the

detriment of the health workforce in their respective countries. There was an

interest among delegates for countries to provide sustainable solutions for retaining

health professionals in areas of need. In particular there needs to be an emphasis in

Australia on recruitment of health professionals to rural and remote Australia to

minimise the reliance of these areas on international health graduates.

Outcome 2: Undertake appropriate workforce planning taking into account ethical

workforce migration.

Outcome 3: Develop a Code of Practice for the recruitment of International HealthProfessionals (IHPs).

Recruitment

Recruitment incentives should be directed towards favourable outcomes. There is

emerging evidence that recruitment incentives should be reward based and not

force people to work in areas of need without adequate support/training. The

effectiveness of recruitment strategies throughout Australia needs to be considered

and evidence based strategies implemented by employers to ensure effective

recruitment of health professionals.

Outcome 4: Review and implement evidence-based recruitment incentives.


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International aid and workforce sustainability

Better allocation of incentives for Australians to provide international aid can

achieve mutually desirable outcomes. The Australian government should use

financial assistance to work with developing countries to find sustainable solutions

for workforce imbalances. This includes helping to train enough health professionals

for the home country taking workforce migration patterns into account.

Outcome 5: Include health workforce planning in international aid provided by the

Australian Government in other countries.

Extended scopes of practice for health professionals

In the development of extended scopes of practice for health professionals, health

delivery in Australia should focus on patient-centred services not professions for

patients. The focus should be first on the safety of the patient and ensure that any

additional scopes of practice for traditional roles of health professionals are well

regulated to ensure quality of care.

Outcome 6: Extended scope initiatives must be driven by patient centred care.

Interprofessional practice and training

Rather than replacing roles within the health care system, we should consider

changing the way we practice. The up-skilling of health professionals is one way we

can achieve this and needs clear guidelines and processes to ensure its success.

Future Health Leaders is supportive of the current consultation taking place

regarding expanding current prescribing roles of health professionals.

Outcome 7: Up-skilling current health professionals is an important strategy for

improving workforce effectiveness.

Segmentation of educational curriculums requires re-thinking. Common curriculumsacross health professions could provide an effective method of interprofessional

education. Further to this, formal interprofessional curriculums need to be

established for all health professionals to ensure best outcomes for patients. Such

curriculum should include hands-on interprofessional scenarios and cases.

Outcome 8: Interprofessional education must be incorporated into university

health course curriculum.

Outcome 9: Development of an interprofessional curriculum.


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Section 5: Global Health Stream

As the global community discussion around climate change continues, it is important

for the Australian health care sector to consider its impact on the environment,

international health workforce supply and look at sustainable health practices to

ensure patient outcomes can be improved without adversely affecting the health of

the planet.

Green hospitals

As part of the Conference, a model parliament in the global health stream debated a

mock green hospitals policy across a number of environmental indicators. See

Appendix A.

Outcome 1: A 'green hospitals' policy regulating healthcare environmental practice

be implemented by health care providers and suppliers.

The 'health in all policies' approach

It is widely recognised that social determinants of health play a significant role in

health outcomes for all Australians. With Australias large migrant population it is

even more important to consider our role both domestically and overseas in

addressing the social determinants to improve the health of Australians and the

broader international community. The health in all policies approach recognises

the need for multi-sectorial needs when developing policy.

Outcome 2: Wider implementation of the health in all policiesapproach.

Imagining the 21st Century Health professional

Health professionals for the 21st century health challenges need to focus on social

accountability and personalised health care. With an ageing population and growing

health epidemics worldwide, health care professionals need to adapt to challenges

as they arise and work holistically to address both the health needs of individuals as

well as entire populations.

Outcome 3: The development of a set of new age 21st

century health

professional competencies.

Future Health Leaders You had me at hello.

Wall Quote, Miscellaneous


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GREEN & HEALTHY HOSPTIALS 10 POINT PLAN

1. CHEMICALS

Substitute Harmful Chemicals with Safer Alternatives

When products or materials contain substances that have been

identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction, or that

are persistent and bioaccumulative or warrant similar concern --

hospitals must replace them with safer alternatives.

2. WASTE

Reduce, Treat and Safely Dispose of Healthcare Waste

Hospitals must implement a zero waste policy that significantly reduces

the amount of waste generated at the hospital.

3. ENERGY

Implement Energy Efficiency and Clean, Renewable EnergyGeneration

For existing buildings, implement an energy conservation and

efficiency program that will reduce energy consumption by a minimum

of 10% in a single year, and will continue to produce ongoing energy

savings of 2% per annum.

4. WATER

Reduce Hospital Water Consumption and Supply PotableWater

Establish a framework that aspires to net zero water use within the

hospital system.

5. TRANSPORTATION

Improve Transportation Strategies for Patients and Staff

Provide health care in locations that are accessible to patients, staffand visitors without causing them unnecessary travel. Consider

community-based primary care, home care and co-locating medical

services with related social services or community programs.

Appendix A:


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Documents

FHL Conference Outcomes 2012_FINAL.pdf