August 2024 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues

In the last edition of our newsletter, we introduced the launch of our five working groups. This month, we are pleased to share some key insights these groups have identified through their discussions and material reviews:

Cultural Safety Working Group: While significant work has been done to develop cultural safety resources and training materials, most of these efforts focus on interactions with First Nations patients. There is minimal emphasis on training the workforce to effectively collaborate with First Nations peers, supervisors, and trainees.

Leadership Diversity Working Group: Much of the work in leadership diversity centers around leading diverse teams, rather than promoting diversity within leadership itself.

Workplace Behaviour Expectations Working Group: Addressing negative workplace behaviours in healthcare should be the responsibility of duty holders, who must create environments where employees feel safe to voice their concerns.

Curriculum Design Working Group: A primary gap is the lack of curricular alignment. The absence of longitudinal alignment means that medical students and doctors at different career stages learn disparate concepts. Similarly, the lack of horizontal alignment results in varying interpretations of BHDR.

Individual Level Interventions and Reporting Pathways Working Group: There is a significant gap between what trainees believe they would do in reporting and in practice.

These findings will be further explored, and recommendations will be made available by the working groups. We will keep you updated on the progress of this work.

We have also continued our efforts to foster dialogue and create a Better Culture for the entire Australian health workforce. Recent highlights include:

• Participation, by invitation, in a joint forum hosted by AMC and the Health Workforce Taskforce to develop a framework for managing concerns and complaints about accredited specialist medical training sites.

• Participation, by invitation, in a workshop hosted by Safe Work Australia to develop a model Code of Practice for the healthcare and social assistance industry.

• Presentations at multiple forums discussing workplace culture in Australian healthcare settings.

Warm regards,

Dr Jillann Farmer
Chief Executive Officer, A Better Culture