Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology.
To enhance Aboriginal inpatient care and improve outpatient cardiac rehabilitation utilisation, a tertiary hospital in Western Australia recruited an Aboriginal Health Worker (AHW). Interviews were undertaken with the cardiology AHW, other hospital staff including another AHW, and recent Aboriginal...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Australasian Medical Publishing Company Pty Ltd
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23774 |
| _version_ | 1848751244073500672 |
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| author | Taylor, Katherine Thompson, Sandra Smith, J. Dimer, L. Ali, Mohammed Wood, M. |
| author_facet | Taylor, Katherine Thompson, Sandra Smith, J. Dimer, L. Ali, Mohammed Wood, M. |
| author_sort | Taylor, Katherine |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | To enhance Aboriginal inpatient care and improve outpatient cardiac rehabilitation utilisation, a tertiary hospital in Western Australia recruited an Aboriginal Health Worker (AHW). Interviews were undertaken with the cardiology AHW, other hospital staff including another AHW, and recent Aboriginal cardiac patients to assess the impact of this position. The impact of the AHW included facilitating culturally appropriate care, bridging communication divides, reducing discharges against medical advice, providing cultural education, increasing inpatient contact time, improving follow-up practices and enhancing patient referral linkages. Challenges included poor job role definition, clinical restrictions and limitations in AHW training for hospital settings. This study demonstrates that AHWs can have significant impacts on Aboriginal cardiac inpatient experiences and outpatient care. Although this study was undertaken in cardiology, the lessons are transferable across the hospital setting. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:49:38Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-23774 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:49:38Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | Australasian Medical Publishing Company Pty Ltd |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-237742017-09-13T16:05:30Z Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. Taylor, Katherine Thompson, Sandra Smith, J. Dimer, L. Ali, Mohammed Wood, M. To enhance Aboriginal inpatient care and improve outpatient cardiac rehabilitation utilisation, a tertiary hospital in Western Australia recruited an Aboriginal Health Worker (AHW). Interviews were undertaken with the cardiology AHW, other hospital staff including another AHW, and recent Aboriginal cardiac patients to assess the impact of this position. The impact of the AHW included facilitating culturally appropriate care, bridging communication divides, reducing discharges against medical advice, providing cultural education, increasing inpatient contact time, improving follow-up practices and enhancing patient referral linkages. Challenges included poor job role definition, clinical restrictions and limitations in AHW training for hospital settings. This study demonstrates that AHWs can have significant impacts on Aboriginal cardiac inpatient experiences and outpatient care. Although this study was undertaken in cardiology, the lessons are transferable across the hospital setting. 2009 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23774 10.1071/AH090549 Australasian Medical Publishing Company Pty Ltd fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Taylor, Katherine Thompson, Sandra Smith, J. Dimer, L. Ali, Mohammed Wood, M. Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. |
| title | Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. |
| title_full | Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. |
| title_short | Exploring the impact of an Aboriginal Health Worker on hospitalised Aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. |
| title_sort | exploring the impact of an aboriginal health worker on hospitalised aboriginal experiences: lessons from cardiology. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23774 |