“They Are Worth Their Weight in Gold”: Families and Clinicians’ Perspectives on the Role of First Nations Health Workers in Paediatric Burn Care in Australia

Burns affect Australia’s First Nations children more than other Australian children, they also experience longer lengths of stay in tertiary burns units and face barriers in accessing burn aftercare treatment. Data sets from two studies were combined whereby 19 families, 11 First Nations Health Work...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Main Authors: Julieann Coombes, Sarah Fraser, Kate Hunter, Rebecca Ivers, Andrew Holland, Julian Grant, Tamara Mackean
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021
Subjects:
R
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052297
https://doaj.org/article/21fabb6a89e145de91a2e12ec8ad66b9
Description
Summary:Burns affect Australia’s First Nations children more than other Australian children, they also experience longer lengths of stay in tertiary burns units and face barriers in accessing burn aftercare treatment. Data sets from two studies were combined whereby 19 families, 11 First Nations Health Worker (FNHW) and 56 multidisciplinary burn team members from across Australia described the actual or perceived role of FNHW in multidisciplinary burn care. Data highlighted similarities between the actual role of FNHW as described by families and as described by FNHW such as enabling cultural safety and advocacy. In contrast, a disconnect between the actual experience of First Nations families and health workers and that as perceived by multidisciplinary burn team members was evident. More work is needed to understand the impact of this disconnect and how to address it.