Journal Article

Working well: strategies to strengthen the workforce of the Indigenous primary healthcare sector

Fagan, Ruth, Jongen, Crystal, McCalman, Janya, Campbell, Sandy

2019

Overview

Background 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.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Aboriginal / Aboriginal Australians / Accountability / Australia - epidemiology / Career development planning / Career pathways / Careers / Community / Community control / Employee motivation / Employment / Funding / Grounded Theory / Health Administration / Health care / Health care access / Health Care Sector - organization & administration / Health Informatics / Health services / Health Services Research / Health Services, Indigenous - organization & administration / Health Services, Indigenous - standards / Humans / Indigenous / Indigenous peoples / Indigent care / Labor force / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Native peoples / Nursing Research / Organization / Primary care / Primary health care / Primary Health Care - organization & administration / Primary Health Care - standards / Professionals / Public Health / Research Article / Retention / Roles / Shortages / Staff Development - organization & administration / structure and delivery of healthcare / Workforce / Workforce planning