Primary health care: Interviews with Professionals

Areas of focus

Health care systems

Australia’s universal health care system incorporates a multidisciplinary primary health system. This sector needs to be inclusive, responsive, sustainable, culturally considerate and work to deliver evidence based health care.> Health Care Systems Q&A

Indigenous mother with her baby at a doctor consultation

Primary health care provision

Primary health care provision focusses on creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills and reorienting health care services.> Primary health care Q&A

Health students preparation

Healthcare students are the next generation of primary healthcare industry providers and derive from diverse study areas which encompass the multidisciplinary health care system. > Health Students Q&A

Chronic disease

Chronic diseases tend to be long lasting and have persistent effects. Putting a large burden on the health system, they require comprehensive approaches facilitated by a well-organized and supported primary health care system.> Chronic diseases Q&A

Health education

Health education is any combination of learning experiences designed to help individuals and communities to improve their health and wellbeing. > Health education Q&A

Health promotion

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their physical health, mental health and social well-being. > Health promotion Q&A

About this project

To enhance and support undergraduate health programs at Charles Darwin University, a set of interactive video interviews with health professionals have been prepared to showcase the roles and functions within the primary health care sector.

An ageing population and increase in chronic disease, is recognised within the health care industry as evidence for a core focus in primary health provision (AIHW, 2016).
76% of Australians ranked preventive health in the top ten priorities for the Australian Government, demonstrating that primary health care providers are going to become even more vital for health management (PHAA 2016).
Such staggering changes in Australia’s health also means future primary health care practitioners need to be well informed about how the primary health care system is currently managing aspects of health and recognise the potential for employment options within primary health care.

Presenting responses from different primary health care professionals to questions developed around six areas of health: health care systems, primary health care provision, preparation of health students, chronic disease, health education [for clients] and health promotion, enables trends and challenges in primary health care practice to be identified and disseminated back to the wider health community.

A major focus of this resource is to search and relay information that will assist undergraduate health students (future health practitioners) in better understanding how the primary health care system is structured, the types of services it provides and the multidisciplinary nature of the health professionals who work there.

Meet the professionals

Robyn Wardle

Family Planning NT

I am the CEO of family planning welfare NT. I'm coming up to 30 years working in this organisation. My background is as a nurse and I have a Graduate Diploma in Adult Education and a Diploma in Governance> Watch Robyn's presentation
Catherine Jensen

Cancer Council NT

I'm a Registered Nurse and I have over six years’ experience in the nursing sector from emergency nursing, to community nursing and now to Cancer Council NT.> Watch Catherine's presentation
Simon Dixon

Heart Foundation

I am the CEO of the Heart Foundation NT. I've been working the primary health care sector for about 23 years. I worked for 18 years in pathology before coming to the Heart Foundation. I have a science degree and I'm in the midst of completing a master in business administration.> Watch Simon's presentation
Chrissie Inglis

Healthy Living NT

I'm the education services manager at Healthy Living NT. My background qualification is Registered Nurse. I've also done a Bachelor of Coronary Care Nursing and a Grad Cert in Diabetes Education Service > Watch Chrissie's presentation
Jack Wallace

Cancer Council NT

I work at Cancer Council NT as a Cancer Prevention Coordinator. I have a Bachelor of Health Science and a Bachelor of Business, majoring in public health and marketing. I also have a Masters of Occupational Therapy. > Watch James's presentation
Kylie Ella

TEAMhealth NT

I'm the Mental Health Promotion manager at TEAMhealth. I did my Undergraduate in Psychology and a Masters of Public Health in Sydney. I've worked in Health Administration and I managed a Women's Health Practice.> Watch Kylie's presentation

Read the "Professionals" interview's transcript

Interviews

Presenting responses from different primary health care professionals to questions developed around 6 areas of focus , enables trends and challenges in primary health care practice to be identified and disseminated back to the wider health community.
You can select a professional to watch a video interview or you can read a full transcript of all interviews . In addition, you can also read a transcript of each areas of focus.

Health Care Systems

Definition.

Australia supports a universal health care system which incorporates a multidisciplinary primary health system.
Aiming for quality patient care and effective use of resources, the primary health care sector needs to be inclusive, responsive, sustainable, culturally considerate and work to deliver evidence based health care.

Questions.

1 : You have already given us some insights into your services – could you tell us a little more about how the services are structured and why ?

Robyn's answer 1
Jack's answer 1
Kylie's answer 1
Chrissie's answer 1
Simon's answer 1
Catherine's answer 1

2 : What are the different types of team members in your service?

Kylie's answer 2
Simon's answer 2
Chrissie's answer 2
Robyn's answer 2
Catherine's answer 2

Read the "health care systems" interview 's transcript

Primary Health Care Provision

Definition

Primary health care provision focusses on creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills and reorienting health care services (Ottawa Health Charter 1986). Prevention forms a vital focus of care provision represented by primary prevention to maintain health, secondary prevention for treating and limiting advancement of injury / illness and tertiary prevention aimed at rehabilitative or restorative actions.

Questions

1 : What have you observed or contributed to in the provision of primary health care that works well for your clients?

Catherine's answer 1
Simon's answer 1
Robyn's answer 1
Chrissie's answer 1
Kylie's answer 1

2 : What are the main challenges in your health care provision and what have you observed that could be done to improve primary health care in your sector?

Chrissie's answer 2
Kylie's answer 2
Catherine's answer 2
Simon's answer 2

Read the "Primary health care provision" interview 's transcript

Health Students Preparation

Definition

Health care students derive from study areas within the multidisciplinary health care system and study a diverse range of educational programs from vocational training through to post graduate education. Healthcare students are the next generation of primary healthcare industry providers.

Questions

1 : What are the most important points for health students to be aware of in regard to your primary health service?

Jack's answer
Robyn's answer 1
Kylie's answer 1
Chrissie's answer 1
Simon's answer 1
Catherine's answer 1

2 : What advice would you give health students interested in coming to work in this area of health?

Catherine's answer 2
Kylie's answer 2
Chrissie's answer 2
Jack's answer 2

Read the "health students" interview 's transcript

Chronic Disease Management

Definition

Chronic disease is defined as diseases which tend to be long lasting and have persistent effects (AIHW 2015). They put a large burden on the health care system requiring a comprehensive approach to encompass patient centered and behavior change models of care, facilitated by a well-organized and supported primary health care system.

Questions

1 : What are the main chronic diseases you work with and how does your team work to assist a client with self-management of their chronic disease?

Kylie's answer 1
Chrissie's answer 1
Catherine's answer 1
Simon's answer 1
Robyn's answer 1

2 : What has been the most challenging and the most rewarding aspects of managing clients with chronic disease?

Chrissie's answer 1
Catherine's answer 2
Kylie's answer 2
Simon's answer 2

Read the "Chronic Disease Management" interview 's transcript

Health Education

Definition

Health education strategies and practices are critical to improving the health and wellbeing of the Australian population. Health education is any combination of learning experiences designed to help individuals and communities improve their health, by increasing their knowledge or influencing their attitudes (WHO, 2016).

Questions

1 : What type of health education do you provide for clients?

Simon's answer 1
Chrissie's answer 1
Kylie's answer 1
Jack's answer 1
Robyn's answer 1
Catherine's answer 1

2 : In your experience what helps health education delivery for clients be successful?

Catherine's answer 2
Robyn's answer 2
Chrissie's answer 2
Jack's answer 2
Kylie's answer 2

Read the "health education" interview 's transcript

Health Promotion

Definition

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment (Ottawa Health Charter, 1986).

Questions

1 : What areas/types of health promotion does your organisation deliver?

Robyn's answer 1
Jack's answer 1
Kylie's answer 1
Chrissie's answer 1

2 : What are the biggest challenges with good health promotion and how do you evaluate the success of health promotions?

Kylie's answer 2
Chrissie's answer 2
Jack's answer 2
Robyn's answer 2
Simon's answer 2

Read the "health promotion" interview 's transcript

Primary health care: Interviews with Professionals

Areas of focus

Health care systems

Primary health care provision

Health students preparation

Chronic disease

Health education

Health promotion

About this project

Meet the professionals

Robyn Wardle

Family Planning NT

Catherine Jensen

Cancer Council NT

Simon Dixon

Heart Foundation

Chrissie Inglis

Healthy Living NT

Jack Wallace

Cancer Council NT

Kylie Ella

TEAMhealth NT

Interviews

Health Care Systems

Definition.

Questions.

Robyn's answer 1

Jack's answer 1

Kylie's answer 1

Chrissie's answer 1

Simon's answer 1

Catherine's answer 1

Kylie's answer 2

Simon's answer 2

Chrissie's answer 2

Robyn's answer 2

Catherine's answer 2

Primary Health Care Provision

Definition

Questions

Catherine's answer 1

Simon's answer 1

Robyn's answer 1

Chrissie's answer 1

Kylie's answer 1

Chrissie's answer 2

Kylie's answer 2

Catherine's answer 2

Simon's answer 2

Health Students Preparation

Definition

Questions

Jack's answer

Robyn's answer 1

Kylie's answer 1

Chrissie's answer 1

Simon's answer 1

Catherine's answer 1

Catherine's answer 2

Kylie's answer 2

Chrissie's answer 2

Jack's answer 2

Chronic Disease Management

Definition

Questions

Kylie's answer 1

Chrissie's answer 1

Catherine's answer 1

Simon's answer 1

Robyn's answer 1

Chrissie's answer 1

Catherine's answer 2

Kylie's answer 2

Simon's answer 2

Health Education

Definition

Questions

Simon's answer 1

Chrissie's answer 1

Kylie's answer 1