scholarly journals Transitioning to Aboriginal community control of primary health care: the process and strategies of one community-controlled health organisation in Queensland

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Crystal Jongen ◽  
Sandra Campbell ◽  
Janya McCalman ◽  
Ruth Fagan ◽  
Kingsley Pearson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) play a critical role in providing culturally appropriate, accessible primary healthcare (PHC) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. The success of many ACCHSs has led to increased policy support for their growth and development, including the transition of state government administered PHC services to Aboriginal community control in select communities. However, there is minimal published literature available which evaluates such transitions. This paper reports on an evaluation of one ACCHS (Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service)‘s experience of transitioning local PHC services to community control in Yarrabah, Queensland, with a focus on the processes and strategies which were implemented to achieve successful transition. Methods Data was collected from interviews with key personnel involved in the transition and organisational documents from the evaluation period. Face-to-face or telephone interviews were conducted with 14 key stakeholders, audio-recorded and transcribed with written consent. Historical organisational documents were provided by Gurriny. All interview transcripts and documents were imported into NVIVO, coded and analysed using grounded theory methods. Results Gurriny’s journey of achieving community control of PHC in Yarrabah entailed an almost 30 year process of building and demonstrating organisational capacity. The first stage (1986 to 2004) was focused on establishing and developing a community-controlled health service and the second stage (2005–14) on preparing for the transition. Formal handover occurred in June 2014. Stage one strategies included: addressing community social and emotional wellbeing; consulting the community; collaborating with researchers; and, strategically building services, organisation capacity and stakeholder trust. Stage two strategies were: communicating and engaging with stakeholders; ensuring strong governance; planning and developing the services and workforce; assuring quality; and, financial planning, management and modelling. Conclusion Achieving successful transition to community control of PHC for Gurriny entailed a lengthy process of substantial, ongoing organisational growth and development. Gurriny’s experience provides a framework for both governments and the ACCHS sector to inform future transitions of PHC services to Aboriginal community control.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. e001091
Author(s):  
Jenifer Olive Darr ◽  
Richard C Franklin ◽  
Kristin Emma McBain-Rigg ◽  
Sarah Larkins ◽  
Yvette Roe ◽  
...  

BackgroundA national accreditation policy for the Australian primary healthcare (PHC) system was initiated in 2008. While certification standards are mandatory, little is known about their effects on the efficiency and sustainability of organisations, particularly in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS) sector.AimThe literature review aims to answer the following: to what extent does the implementation of the International Organisation for Standardization 9001:2008 quality management system (QMS) facilitate efficiency and sustainability in the ACCHS sector?MethodsThematic analysis of peer-reviewed and grey literature was undertaken from Australia and New Zealand PHC sector with a focus on First Nations people. The databases searched included Medline, Scopus and three Informit sites (AHB-ATSIS, AEI-ATSIS and AGIS-ATSIS). The initial search strategy included quality improvement, continuous quality improvement, efficiency and sustainability.ResultsSixteen included studies were assessed for quality using the McMaster criteria. The studies were ranked against the criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Three central themes emerged: accreditation (n=4), quality improvement (n=9) and systems strengthening (n=3). The accreditation theme included effects on health service expenditure and clinical outcomes, consistency and validity of accreditation standards and linkages to clinical governance frameworks. The quality improvement theme included audit effectiveness and value for specific population health. The theme of systems strengthening included prerequisite systems and embedded clinical governance measures for innovative models of care.ConclusionThe ACCHS sector warrants reliable evidence to understand the value of QMSs and enhancement tools, particularly given ACCHS (client-centric) services and their specialist status. Limited evidence exists for the value of standards on health system sustainability and efficiency in Australia. Despite a mandatory second certification standard, no studies reported on sustainability and efficiency of a QMS in PHC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Deroy ◽  
Heike Schütze

Abstract Background Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services are fundamental to improving the health and welfare of Aboriginal peoples. A key element that contributes to the effectiveness of these services are Aboriginal health and wellbeing staff. However, Aboriginal health and wellbeing staff often suffer high rates of stress and burnout. Current literature focuses on proposed strategies to increase staff retention in Aboriginal Health Services, yet, there is limited information available showcasing what has actually worked. Method This was an intrinsic strengths-based case study of one regional Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service. Semi-structured research yarning interviews were conducted with past and present staff employed in health and wellbeing roles to highlight the factors that staff felt contributed to their retention. Results Ten interviews were conducted between February and April 2018. Six key themes emerged: social accountability, teamwork and collaboration, cultural safety, supervision, professional advancement, and recognition. We add to the literature by identifying the importance of bi-directional communication, and showing that social accountability, teamwork and collaboration, cultural safety, supervision, professional advancement, and recognition continue to be important factors that contribute to health and wellbeing staff retention in Aboriginal Health Services. Conclusion This exemplar Aboriginal Health Service may provide insights into future strategies to improve staff retention in other health services.


2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-143
Author(s):  
Clive Rosewarne ◽  
Petronella Vaarzon-Morel ◽  
Stephanie Bell ◽  
Elizabeth Carter ◽  
Margaret Liddle ◽  
...  

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1620
Author(s):  
Murali Krishna Koramutla ◽  
Manisha Negi ◽  
Belay T. Ayele

Plant growth and development and interactions with the environment are regulated by phytohormones and other signaling molecules. During their evolution, plants have developed strategies for efficient signal perception and for the activation of signal transduction cascades to maintain proper growth and development, in particular under adverse environmental conditions. Abscisic acid (ABA) is one of the phytohormones known to regulate plant developmental events and tolerance to environmental stresses. The role of ABA is mediated by both its accumulated level, which is regulated by its biosynthesis and catabolism, and signaling, all of which are influenced by complex regulatory mechanisms. Under stress conditions, plants employ enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant strategies to scavenge excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitigate the negative effects of oxidative stress. Glutathione (GSH) is one of the main antioxidant molecules playing a critical role in plant survival under stress conditions through the detoxification of excess ROS, maintaining cellular redox homeostasis and regulating protein functions. GSH has recently emerged as an important signaling molecule regulating ABA signal transduction and associated developmental events, and response to stressors. This review highlights the current knowledge on the interplay between ABA and GSH in regulating seed dormancy, germination, stomatal closure and tolerance to drought.


Author(s):  
Christopher G. Reddick

Section 214 of the E-Government Act of 2002 called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in consultation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to ensure that IT is studied to enhance crisis preparedness and response as a consequence of natural and manmade disasters (Rao, Eisenberg, and Schmitt, 2007). This important e-government legislation demonstrates the vital role of IT in emergency management. E-emergency management is especially critical to understand given the important role that the different levels of government play in disasters. This chapter will show that there is a need to be comprehensive in IT and emergency management. For effective emergency planning there is a need to use IT to leverage planning efforts. Federalism mat-ters when doing emergency lanning and should be taken into account in these efforts. Citizens play a critical role in emergency management. Information that is timely, and of high quality, is essential for emergency management. The digital divide matters in planning for emergency management and there is an importance of public libraries in the event of a disaster to serve those populations impacted from the disaster. This chapter first examines the four functions of emergency management to determine how these functions relate to IT. Emergency planning and its application to IT adoption is discussed in this chapter. The intergovernmental aspects of emergency management are discussed to set the context of the environment that emergency responders work under. The role that citizens play in emergency management is discussed to determine the important influence they have over the process. The chapter also examines the impact of management information systems on emergency management. This chapter examines the important organizational, societal, and technology issues of IT and emergency management. There are results from a survey of state government directors of emergency management to determine what impact that IT has had on their departments. Finally, a conclusion summarizes the important findings of this study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1832-1837
Author(s):  
Angela Ryan ◽  
Oliver Huse ◽  
Miranda R Blake ◽  
Tara Boelsen-Robinson ◽  
Kia Noble ◽  
...  

AbstractObjective:In 2015, beverages were removed from display at a self-service café within a major health service, resulting in fewer purchases of unhealthy beverages. This initiative was continued following initial evaluation of the results. The current study aimed to determine customer acceptability of the initiative, and whether healthier purchases had continued, at 18 months following implementation.Design:Drinks were categorised as ‘green’ (best choices), ‘amber’ (choose carefully) and ‘red’ (limit), based on the state government nutrient profiling system, for intervention and analysis purposes. In 2015, unhealthy ‘red’ drinks were removed from display. In 2017, weekly beverage sales were counted, through stock-taking, for 6 weeks, and customer surveys were conducted over 2 days.Setting:A café located within a major Victorian health service.Participants:Café customers (hospital staff, patients and visitors).Results:Eighteen months after the implementation of the initiative, the proportion of ‘red’ beverages sold was 7 % of total drink sales (compared with 33 % before the removal of unhealthy beverages from display in 2015 (P < 0·001), and 10 % immediately following the removal of unhealthy beverages from display). Customer surveys revealed high levels of acceptability for the initiative and low levels of awareness of the initiative.Conclusions:The removal of unhealthy beverages from display can result in customers making healthier purchases, and this appears to continue over the long-term. Such interventions have the potential to contribute to the sustained shift in population purchases and consumption needed to make meaningful improvements to population health.


Author(s):  
Min Duan ◽  
Xiao-Juan Ke ◽  
Hong-Xia Lan ◽  
Xi Yuan ◽  
Peng Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract Gibberellins (GAs) play important roles in the regulation of plant growth and development. The green revolution gene SD1 encoding gibberellin 20-oxidase 2 (GA20ox2) has been widely used in modern rice breeding. However, the molecular mechanism of how SD1/OsGA20ox2 expression is regulated remains unclear. Here, we report a Cys2/His2 zinc finger protein ZFP207 acting as a transcriptional repressor of OsGA20ox2. ZFP207 was mainly accumulated in young tissues and more specifically in culm nodes. ZFP207-overexpression (ZFP207OE) plants displayed semidwarfism phenotype and small grains by modulating cell length. RNA interference of ZFP207 caused increased plant height and grain length. The application of exogenous GA3 could rescue the semidwarf phenotype of ZFP207OE rice seedlings. Moreover, ZFP207 repressed the expression of OsGA20ox2 via binding to its promoter region. Taken together, ZFP207 acts as a transcriptional repressor of SD1/OsGA20ox2 and it may play a critical role in plant growth and development in rice through the fine-tuning of GA biosynthesis .


2001 ◽  
Vol 171 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
WE Rainey ◽  
BR Carr ◽  
ZN Wang ◽  

The mechanisms that lead to the steroidogenic differences in the human fetal adrenal (HFA) and adult adrenal gland are not known. However, gene expression clearly plays a critical role in defining their distinct steroidogenic and structural phenotypes. We used DNA microarrays to compare expression levels of several thousand transcripts between the HFA and adult adrenal gland. Total RNA was isolated from 18 HFA and 12 adult adrenal glands. Samples of total RNA were used to make five pools of poly A+ RNA (mRNA). Gene profiling was done using five independent microarrays that contained between 7075 and 9182 cDNA elements. Sixty-nine transcripts were found to have a greater than 2.5-fold difference in expression between HFA and adult adrenals. The largest differences were observed for transcripts that encode IGF-II (25-fold higher in HFA) and 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (24-fold higher in adult). Among the other genes, transcripts related to sterol biosynthesis or to growth and development were higher in the HFA than adult adrenals. Transcripts concerned with cellular immunity and signal transduction were preferentially expressed in the adult adrenal. The vast majority of the 69 transcripts have not been studied with regard to adrenal function. Thus, these gene profiles provide valuable information that could help define the mechanisms that control adrenal function.


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