Listing all library documents by title
Developing consumer driven performance reports for acute cardiac services
The project challenged the assumption that performance reports should provide data. Consumers raised concerns about the benefits of data and challenged the typical boundaries that relate to accountability and not to the consumer experience. The project involved two consumer partner organisations - Heartbeat Epworth Inc, and Cardiomyopathy Association of Australia Ltd. The project aimed to develop a report using the Purposeful Reporting to Consumers' framework.
A Framework of Consumer Engagement in Australian Health Policy
This article describes a framework for thinking about consumer engagement in Australian health policy. It presents eight interacting issues that influence the practice of consumer engagement: purpose, type, initiator, who is engaged, timing, techniques, practical issues, and contextual issues. Evaluation is recognised as a separate but important factor. These issues can be used to review consumer engagement practice, plan consumer engagement programs, and identify the trade-offs that must be made when conducting consumer engagement.
Over the last 30 years or so, changes in the application of consumer law and health promotion have led to a more inclusive and better informed society. Though for roughly 20% of the population – those Australians with disabilities – the question is: has this social change really been effective? This article looks at the work of the Disability Advocacy and Information Service, and the regional groups its supports, in bring change to local communities.
A Model of Payment to Consumers, Carers and Community Representatives
This article presents information about the type and amount of payment made to consumer, carers and community representatives gathered by the National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation in Health. This information was then synthesised and used to establish Inner South Eastern Partnership In Community and Health's policy on payments to consumer representatives.
A Person-centred Communication and Reflection Model: Sharing Decision Making in Chronic Care
A communication model was developed to help professionals working in the area of shared decision making in chronic care. The idea was to help doctors to gain an insight into patients’ decisions, rather than the opposite.
A Tale of Two Health Literacies: Public Health and Clinical Approaches to Health Literacy
Interesting study measuring health literacy amongst the public and clinicians in Mexico, China, Ghana and India. The study used thirteen ‘essential Facts for Life messages’ to measure health literacy including: child development and early learning; nutrition and growth; immunisation; serious illnesses; and injury prevention.
AHCRA - Community consultation and Engagement
This is a paper developed during the AHCRA two-day workshop in Adelaide on 16-17 November 2005. It looks at the need for dialogue with citizens and consumers about the future of the Australian health system.
AHCRA statement on Reducing Hospital Waiting Lists
On 28 July 2006, Kerren Clark on behalf of the AHCRA, delivered an Opening Statement to the ACT Public Accounts and Estimates Committee that outlined four key strategies for reducing hospital waiting lists.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Hospital Accreditation Project Community Report
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Hospital Accreditation Project aims to obtain accurate data about the use of hospitals by Koori patients and to help develop more accessible and culturally appropriate hospital services. This report looks at the problems and successes of the project and makes suggestions for improvement.
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Accessible Events - A Guide for Organisers
This is a useful resource for anyone planning a consumer participation event. The guide was developed by Meeting Events Australia and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. It discusses the legal responsibilities organisers have for making sure that their event is accessible for people with disabilities and gives practical suggestions on how to do this from start to finish.
Twenty programs and projects to implement the healthy cities principles and community coalitions were reviewed. Most cases were able to implement successful programs through willingness to collaborate, emphasis on engaging diverse parts of the community, responsiveness to community needs and opportunities for resident input into decision making.
ADVANCE NOTICE
Call for contributors to a special edition of
Health Issues Centre Journal on safety and quality
The deadline for articles is Friday, 6 February 2009
Health Issues Centre supports the on-going development of 19 Victorian Community Advisory Committees (CACs) in Metropolitan and Regional Health Services. As part of this support, a number of learning and development sessions are held. Some of the findings of these sessions have been documented including this one on advocacy.
Advocacy, Leadership, Community Participation: A Training Program for Health Consumers and Carers
This is a useful clear set of practical workshops designed and tested by a broad range of community members. Produced by North Central Metro Primary Care Partnership, it aims at producing more effective participation in the health system. The program outlines workshop topics such as advocating for change, working in groups and finding funds. It includes tips for facilitators and information sheets on issues such as confidentiality and what to consider when deciding whether to join a committee.
The aim of this study was to develop and pilot test a brief survey for patients in Swiss hospitals. Evidence from the qualitative interviews indicates that safety remains an unsaid word between patients and their care providers.
This is an independent website publicising the aged care issues of older citizens. The site includes a large range of national and state-specific articles, statistics and checklists on topics such as quality of care and elder abuse. There is a discussion forum and viewers' stories can be published on the site.
The report documents the development of a 'staff-consumer collaboration in treatment' workbook which is designed for collaborative use by case-managers and consumers within individual treatment settings, and aims to assist consumers to participate more fully within their own treatments.
Alfred Psychiatry Consumer Participation: Book of Procedure
This report summarises the achievemenets of the Consumer and Provider Partnerships Project (CAPPs) and has been a consumer initiative developed by consumers who are current members of the Alfred Psychiatry Consumer Participation Program and who are currently accessing Alfred Psychiatry for their hown health needs. Resources coming out of the project include an Audit Tool which could be used by services other than Alfred Psychiatry. The Book of Procedures and Staff-Consumer Collaboration in Treatment
Alice Springs Hospital: Consumer Feedback Questionnaire and Guide for Interviewers
Consists of a Consumer Feedback Questionnaire and Guide for Interviewers for the Alice Springs Hospital. This is a companion document to the report 'Alice Springs Hospital: Implementing consumer feedback into a continuous quality improvement framework', also available from the this website.
Following a review of curent and past research, and individual and group discussions with Aboriginal consumers and health workers, several potential tools were identified, including development of a culturally appropriate questionnaire, face to face interviews, posters, pamphlets, training sessions and presentations, and creation of an Aboriginal consumer advisory group. The 'Alice Springs Hospital Consumer feedback questionnaire and Guide for Interviewers' is also available from the Publications section of this website.
This study evaluates how well three participatory techniques - a mail survey, focused conversations with existing community groups, and community dinners - meet three key community oriented criteria. These are: representative-ness, working toward identification of communitywide common good, and incorporation of values and beliefs into the discussion. The evaluation conducted in this study indicates that the techniques produce positive results for two of these criteria, but may not be representative of the communities as a whole.
The evaluation reports significant impacts and achievements including that the strategy was consumer driven; represented a collaborative partnership between consumers and senior management and increased mutual respect; has been accepted as a component of staff selection; is a visible commitment to meaningful consumer participation and the evaluation has identified a range of learnings for consumers.
An evaluation of the National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation in Health
This report presents the findings and conclusions of the final impact evaluation of the National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation in Health (NRCCPH). It is the last stage of a three year evaluation by the Centre for Development and Innovation in Health (CDIH), La Trobe University. The primary purposes of this final impact evaluation were to assess the achievements of the Centre in terms of its goals and objectives; to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the Centre in promoting awareness and utilisation of consumer participation strategies in health, and to make recommendations about the future development of the Centre.The evaluation methodology included document analysis of a range of reports, surveys of users and working group members of the Centre, key informant interviews and reflective discussions with staff.
Anatomy of a Health Reform Agenda: 2002-2005
Health sector reform is on the national agenda. Although there is no particular moment at which a consensus about the need for significant health reform emerged, this article discusses some events that occurred between 2002 and 2005, and some of the ‘players’ that have led to the situation in which, as 2006 begins, there is considerable optimism that real and substantial change is now at least possible. The most successful outcome will be achieved with a high degree of collaboration between governments, between professions, and with consumers. The article starts with discussion of the Treasurer’s Intergenerational Report of May 2002 and ends within sight of the consideration due on 10 February 2006 of health reform by the Council of Australian Governments.
Assessing Consumer Ratings of Quality in General Practice Needs More Than Just Rating Scales
Accurate assessments of quality in general practice are dependent on the views of health consumers. Currently, consumers’ views of general practice quality are primarily assessed using rating scales. Rating scales are quick, cheap and capable of eliciting large amounts of data from numerous respondents in any easy-to-use and interpret format. But how dependable is the information they present? This article discusses the limitations of ratings scales and proposes mixed-method approaches as a viable alternative to assessing consumer views on quality in general practice
Assessing the Quality of Consumer Information
Recently Health Issues Centre and the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness, at Monash Institute of Public Health collaborated on a project titled, Assessing the Quality of Consumer Information. The project sought to assess the quality of written information provided by Victorian public hospitals from the perspective of the consumer, clinician, publisher and evidence based research and was based on a similar project Informing Patients, conducted by the King's Fund in the UK in 1997. This article focuses on the consumer feedback related to experiences of receiving written health information related to a particular medical condition.
Explicit attention to spiritual care has been a distinguishing characteristic of palliative care over the past three decades. No other health care discipline has identified spiritual care as an integral part of its practice, or has developed standards for spiritual care, to the same extent. Today, however, the distinctiveness of palliative care’s involvement with spiritual care is disappearing as an increasing range of health care practitioners explore spirituality and its implications for professional practice. This article suggests that spirituality is an important vehicle for consumer voices in contemporary health care and that, as interest in spiritual care broadens, steps must be taken to ensure that professionals’ interests do not displace these consumer voices. Implications for understanding and offering spiritual care are also discussed.
Austin Bowel Cancer Consortium: Changing Culture in Bowel Cancer Care
The Austin Bowel Cancer Consortium involved doctors and consumers from three Victorian hospitals, along with the North East Valley Division of General Practice, Health Issues Centre, and social science researchers from Swinburne University. The project aimed to better understand the cancer care system so that it could be improved. Patients and carers took part in interviews about their experiences of services, and participated in consumer reference and implementation groups. Consumers also contributed to a psychosocial working group which focused on communication between clinicians and patients.
Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights
The Charter specifies the key rights of patients and consumers when seeking or receiving healthcare services and was developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, following an extensive national consultation process.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
This web site contains information about the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The ACCC promotes competition and fair trade in the market place to benefit consumers, businesses and the community.
Australian Health Care Reform Alliance
The Australian Health Care REform Alliance is a coalition of over 40 organisations representing consumers and health care providers. The Alliance advocates for a fairer and more effective health care system.
Australian Health Policy Institute (AHPI)
This site offers news and policy papers and policy analysis projects about contemporary policy topics.
Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA)
AIDA strives for excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in the spirit of cultural integrity. AIDA supports Indigenous people to take a central role in Indigenous health and encourages non-Indigenous people to work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, in a way that is culturally safe and respectful.
Australian Indigenous Health Promotion Network
This Network works to improve the health of Indigenous Australians. Anyone with this goal can join the network, which is controlled by the members
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
This website is a 'one-stop info-shop' for people interested in improving the health of Indigenous Australians. It has a large range of resources to use in policy and practice, and also provides 'yarning places' to encourage information-sharing and collaboration.
Australian Institute of Health Policy Studies
This is a national institute which studies the ways in which health policy can improve the health of all Australians.
Australian Policy online (APO)
This website offers information about Australian social, economic, cultural and political research.
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
This web site includes the first comprehensive measure of personal and national wellbeing in Australia and includes the following topics: Genuine Progress Indicator (Australia; Alternative to GDP, includes social and environmental costs etc. ; Measuring Australia’s Progress; Key ABS national progress measurement project, bi-ennial. ; Unequal in Life; National community based survey of living standards and inequality in Australian communities
The report examines various characteristics of respondents which may be predictive of self-reported experience of medical adverse events.
Bayside Health Community Advisory Committee: Making it Work
The establishment of Community Advisory Committees (CACs) within the Metropolitan Health Services in Victoria has increased the scope of hospitals’ consultative processes with consumers, carers and the wider community. CACs aim to achieve a shift in culture to embed the opinions and views of consumers, carers and the community into health services' decision making and planning processes. This article records the account of one CAC’s attempts to establish its role within the health service.
This 2005 report from Roseanne Hepburn for Carers Victoria found that although very few Indigenous people identify as carers, many have significant care responsibilities. Their stories show the legacies of colonisation, dispossession and racism, and a strong need for culturally appropriate support and respite.
Beating the Path to Health Professionals: Do they Know What We’re Trying to do
This presentation was given at the Health Issues Centre’s forum, Committed to Participation. Researching papers from across the world, you find the same word at the top of the list of failures within health organisations of all kinds - communication. Effective communication is far easier to achieve than most people believe. Rapport develops from understanding how to use words and create systems for active communication.
Belief Versus Reality in Reforming Health Care
J Michael Wynne is a retired surgeon who has spent over 15 years following the changes from a predominantly not-for-profit to a for-profit health care system in the USA and Australia. This article explores two conflicting patterns of thinking, for-profit and not-for-profit currently influence Australian health care. It describes the differences between these two precepts and how people resolve to mental resolve the conflict between them. The consequences of this conflict and the domination of for-profit thinking in health care are illustrated with examples from the USA.
Bendigo Regional BreastScreen Consumer Advisory Group: Working Together to Represent Women
BreastScreen Victoria is part of the national mammography screening program, BreastScreen Australia. The program provides free mammography to eligible asymptomatic women, over 50 years of age. Bendigo Regional BreastScreen is one of eight screening assessment services in Victoria and covers a large geographical area. There is one fixed screening site in Bendigo and regular screening with the Mobile Screening Service at Echuca, Kerang and Swan Hill. This article reports on the consumer participation activities at Bendigo Regional BreastScreen from the inception of the screening program and includes the work of its Consumer Advisory Group.
Better Health Channel (Victoria)
Health and medical information for consumers, quality assured by the Victorian government (Australia).
Border Cancer Care Coordination Project
The Border Cancer Care Coordination Project is an action-based research project that has been piloting a model of coordinated cancer care in a regional and rural environment. The federal Department of Health and Ageing funded the project with support from the New South Wales Cancer Institute and the Victorian Department of Human Services. The project has been conducted in the Albury-Wodonga region and focused on cancer care coordination, multidisciplinary case conferencing in a regional/rural environment, information dissemination through a cancer website, and gathered data on cancer patient needs. It also looked at cross-border issues (service provision in a two-state environment) as well as the interface between public and private service provision and how this can work to effectively meet cancer patient needs.
Breast Cancer Knowledge On-Line: Towards Meeting Diverse Information Needs
For women diagnosed with breast cancer, timely, accurate and relevant information is a must. Difficult treatment decisions often need to be made and various options considered within a relatively short time-frame, sometimes when the trauma of diagnosis is still present. Too often the information provided to help with these decisions ignores the diversity and dynamic nature of the target audiences, their information preferences, needs, and sadly, intelligence. This article describes how the Breast Cancer Knowledge On-line Research Project set about researching these issues with the aim of providing a ‘gateway’ to both sources and resources which would ‘tailor’ information to the consumers’ diverse needs.
Breast Cancer Network Australia
Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) is driven by women who have experienced breast cancer. BCNA's role is to empower, inform, represent and link together Australians personally affected by breast cancer. The site has a Victorian page that includes a list of support groups and local events.
Bringing the Community Voice to Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
In 1999, the Victorian government conducted a Ministerial Review of Health Care Networks that resulted in the establishment of 12 Metropolitan Health Services (MHS). It was recommended that the community have meaningful input into the MHSs’ planning, service delivery and policy development through a number of mechanisms including the creation of Community Advisory Communities (CAC). This article describes the experiences, challenges and achievements of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre CAC in Melbourne.
