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Leading the implementation of the Griffith First Peoples Health Plan
The First Peoples Health Unit leads the implementation of the Griffith Health First Peoples Health Plan 2023–2025. The Plan expands on the strategic plan specific to Griffith Health’s commitment to Closing the Gap in health outcomes between Australia’s First Peoples and other Australians, aligning the First Peoples Health Plan with the Griffith University and Griffith Health Planning Frameworks.
Learning and teaching
Cultural Safety for Health Professionals Portal
In collaboration with the First Peoples Health Unit at Griffith University, the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet has developed a new Cultural Safety for Health Professionals portal. The portal aims to support the teaching of health professionals to critically reflect on the concept of cultural safety and to deliver safe, accessible and responsive healthcare that is free from racism.
Links are provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and cultural safety resources, which relate to the five capabilities of a refreshed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heath curriculum framework. The portal aims to assist health professionals to support the implementation of the The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023.
First Peoples Health curricula
The First Peoples Health Unit ensures the Griffith Health curriculum aligns with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework. We work closely with Program coordinators to monitor and evaluate the impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health curricula on students’ cultural capability.
Cultural capability for students
The FPHU places high importance on developing non-First Peoples student’s cultural capability in line with Graduate Attribute 5: Culturally capable when working with First Australians. We are continually working on increasing clinical placement opportunities for students with community organisations, industry and partners in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Engagement
Community engagement
The First Peoples Health Unit engages with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities on programs and activities which meet their unique needs and partner with community organisations, industry and our partners in community projects that improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Rural and remote engagement
The First Peoples Health Unit engages with our partners in rural and remote health to ultimately increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student enrolments from those communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students also have the opportunity to undertake placements with community organisations, industry and partners in rural and remote communities.
Community organisations and industry partners engagement
The focus of the First Peoples Health Unit engagement with community organisations and industry partners in Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander health is to ultimately provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health graduates that are able to meet workforce needs. The establishment of joint, adjunct and academic title positions between Griffith Health and community organisations and industry partners in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health students have access to industry leading professionals throughout their degrees.
Student engagement
The First Peoples Health Unit partners and collaborates with schools, community organisations and industry to deliver engagement activities targeted to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students interested in studying health at Griffith University. We also support a number of specific strategies designed to increase participation and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the Griffith Health group. Students have access to scholarships and the GUMURRII Student Success Unit that provides dedicated support for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at Griffith.
Innovations
Alternative tertiary entry pathways
The FPHU is actively researching alternative tertiary entry pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait people into health programs. It endeavours to establish a pathway to identify and capture learners who have the potential to succeed because they have endured numerous barriers that impacted on their capacity to produce the prescribed levels of academic success.
Cultural safety for health professionals
It is essential for health professionals to have an adequate cultural capability when providing healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The FPHU is researching how to effectively develop cultural capability in health professionals. It is looking into the impact of implementing a Virtual Reality experience to deliver cultural learning towards developing culturally safe health professionals in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healthcare.
Clinical practice within First Peoples communities
Course description: This proposed course prepares students to provide culturally safe healthcare services to Australia's First Peoples.
Prerequisites: Yuwahn Wupin and Safer Healthcare for Australia’s First Peoples.
Course introduction: Clinical practice within First Peoples communities is developed using the five cultural capabilities from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework 2022: respect, communication, safety and quality, and critical reflection and advocacy.
Our research: Dorsi-Meter
Background: Ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion is essential to normal gait. Ankle equinus has been implicated in a number of foot and ankle pathologies included Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, ankle injury, forefoot pain and foot ulceration. Reliable measurement of ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion, both clinically and in a research setting, is important.
Conclusion: We found the intertester reliability of the Dorsi-Meter to demonstrate higher levels of intertester reliability compared to previous studies investigating other devices. We reported the MDC values to provide an estimate of the smallest amount of change in the ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion that must be achieved to reflect a true change, outside the error of the test. The Dorsi-Meter has been established as an appropriate reliable device to measure ankle joint dorsiflexion for clinicians and researchers with very small minimal detectable change and limits of agreement.
Internationalisation
Student and staff exchange programs
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health students and staff have previously had the opportunity to travel abroad on exchange to First Peoples Health Units internationally. They have attended international conferences as part of their degree and travelled overseas as part of exchange and Mobility Programs.
The First Peoples Health Unit is working closely with Griffith University Global Mobility Program towards re-establishing these opportunities post-COVID.
Acknowledgment of Country
The First Peoples Health Unit acknowledges the wisdom inherent in the Traditional Custodians of Australia as the oldest surviving culture in the world. We recognise their custodianship of the land on which all Griffith University campuses are located. We recognise the connection to their land, air, sea and community. We would like to pay our respect to their Elders and Leaders that are past, present, and future. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Contact us
Phone: 07 567 80508
Email: fphu@griffith.edu.au
Office: Room 3.16 Academic 1 (G01) Gold Coast campus Griffith University