Rachel Katterl, PHC RIS
The attendees at the GP & PHC Research Conference this year depicted the workforce we want in the primary health care sector. The government, researchers and health care professionals increasingly recognise the importance of allied health contributions to our first line of defence in the Australian health care system. It is encouraging to see that the presenters at this year’s Conference equally represented those with medical, social science, and other non-medical clinical disciplinary qualifications. Many of their research projects offered unique contributions that are outside of the scope of traditional general practice.
Robyn Cant presented an insightful project about the experiences of dieticians in the team care environment of chronic disease management. This project highlighted the difficulties that dieticians experienced working within the Medicare system, where the fee structures, time restrictions and lack of administrative support culminate in reduced service quality delivered to the patient. These findings call for reconsideration of the dieticians funding mechanisms currently in use by Medicare. This is especially important as dieticians are the third most utilised allied health profession by the Medicare chronic disease management items.
A psychological strategy to assist problem gamblers was the focus of a project by Peter Harvey and colleagues. They identified the well known link between psychological ill health and problem gambling, and focused on an Aboriginal population in Ceduna. The use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy assisted the problem gamblers when it was introduced through a participatory, community engagement paradigm.
Annette Dupont from General Practice Victoria presented a study which identified the barriers to immunisation among Australia’s refugee community. Research indicates that this group are inadequately immunised, and this problem will grow as Australia increases its refugee intake. Multiple barriers to adequate and timely immunisation were identified, including health literacy, settlement-related demands and the duration and coverage of settlement support services. A majority of these barriers can be overcome with improved provider collaboration and service delivery.
These projects represent important aspects of human health and wellbeing beyond what is traditionally focused on in general practice. Social scientists and non-medical clinicians – those who comprise the allied health workforce, contribute unique research questions and approaches to the primary health care knowledge base.
You can find out more about primary health care research presented at the Conference on the PHC RIS website: <www.phcris.org.au/conference/browse.php?catid=874>
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