Patient-Reported Experiences and Satisfaction with Rural Outreach Clinics in New South Wales, Australia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Many studies have been conducted on how physicians view outreach health services, yet few have explored how rural patients view these services. This study aimed to examine the patient experience and satisfaction with outreach health services in rural NSW, Australia and the factors associated with satisfaction. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients who visited outreach health services between December 2020 and February 2021 across rural and remote New South Wales, Australia. Data on patient satisfaction were collected using a validated questionnaire. Both bivariate (chi-squared test) and multivariate analyses (logistic regression) were performed to identify the factors associated with the outcome variable (patient satisfaction). Results: A total of 207 participants were included in the study. The mean age of respondents was 58.6 years, and 50.2% were men. Ninety-three percent of all participants were satisfied with the outreach health services. Respectful behaviours of the outreach healthcare practitioners were significantly associated with the higher patient satisfaction attending outreach clinics. Conclusions: The current study demonstrated a high level of patient satisfaction regarding outreach health services in rural and remote NSW, Australia. Further, our study findings showed the importance of collecting data about patient satisfaction to strengthen outreach service quality.

Job Satisfaction of Health Practitioners Providing Outreach Health Services during COVID-19 in Rural New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia.

Background: Outreach health practitioners play a key role in enhancing access to healthcare for remote, rural, regional, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. Outreach health practitioners are those providing ongoing and integrated health services in communities that would otherwise have limited access. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to understand the job satisfaction of health workers as it correlates with long-term retention of the workforce, as well as effectiveness in the role and clinical outcomes for patients. Method: The study analysed data from 258 outreach health practitioners who responded to two cross-sectional surveys conducted by the NSW Rural Doctors Network during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/21 and 2021/22 in NSW and the ACT, Australia. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were employed to assess the associations between the outcome variable (outreach health practitioners' job satisfaction) and independent variables (sociodemographic factors, motivation, self-confidence, communication, capability). Results: Overall, the study showed that 92.2% of health practitioners were satisfied in their role providing outreach health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the multivariable model, factors significantly associated with higher satisfaction included good communication with other local health practitioners, using telehealth along with in-person care, and having high self-rated capability compared to those health practitioners who said they had lower job satisfaction. Conclusions: Outreach health practitioners' job satisfaction is important because poor satisfaction may lead to suboptimal healthcare delivery, poor clinical outcomes, and poor retention of staff in rural settings. These findings should be taken into consideration when developing future strategies to improve job satisfaction among rural outreach health practitioners and to enhance attraction, recruitment and retention and may be applicable to the broader health workforce.

Collaborative care: Primary health workforce and service delivery in Western New South Wales-A case study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore how four small towns in rural New South Wales known as the 4Ts are addressing challenges accessing quality care and sustainable health services through a collaborative approach to workforce planning using the collaborative care framework. DESIGN: Descriptive case study approach. SETTING: The collaborative care project was developed as a result of ongoing partnerships between 2 rural Local Health Districts, 2 Primary Health Networks and a non-governmental health workforce organisation. The collaboration works with 5 subregions each comprising 2 or more rural communities. This paper focuses on the 4Ts subregion. PARTICIPANTS: Stakeholders of the collaborative design including organisations and the community. INTERVENTION: A place-based approach to co-designing health services with community in one sub-region of Western New South Wales. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A synthesis of field observations and experiences of community and jurisdictional partners in implementation of the 4Ts subregional model. Mapping of implementation processes against the collaborative care framework. RESULTS: The collaborative care framework is a useful planning and community engagement tool to build health workforce literacy and to impact on system change at the local level. We identify key elements of effectiveness in establishing the 4Ts model, including the need for coordinated health system planning, better integrating existing resources to deliver services, community engagement, building health workforce literacy and town-based planning. CONCLUSION: This study adds to the body of knowledge about how to successfully develop a collaborative primary health care workforce model in practice. The findings demonstrate that the implementation of a collaborative primary health care workforce model using the collaborative care framework can improve service access and quality, which in turn might facilitate workforce sustainability.

Capability ... what's in a word? Rural Doctors Network of New South Wales Australia is shifting to focus on the capability of rural health professionals.

Rural health services, and the workforces that provide those services, are under unprecedented pressure due to insufficient health workforce numbers and distribution of health workforce weighted to urban areas. This creates health service access issues in rural areas, compounding existing health inequalities between rural and urban people. Many approaches to date have aimed to rectify these issues, with moderate success. In this article we present a call to action to pursue a complementary approach: supporting the capability of the rural health workforce. We hypothesise that further exploring what it means to be a 'capable' rural health professional and what processes or conditions support or erode capability may additionally bolster efforts toward strong rural and remote health systems. The Capability Approach is a theory proposed by Amartya Sen, who was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 for this work. Although the Capability Approach inspired, for instance, the UN's Human Development Index, it has not been deeply explored in the context of rural health workforce. While still untested, a focus on capability may assist us in taking a broader view, which encompasses functioning and the freedom to pursue different functioning combinations. The feasible freedom and opportunities are paramount to the concept of capability. We posit that competence is static and the responsibility of the practitioner (and their education), but that capability is fluid and multi-dimensional and the responsibility of the practitioner, community and system. Therefore, we hypothesise that a focus on a Capability Approach, which modulates the relation between the contextual factors and outcomes, may provide us with greater understanding and avenues for action when we aim to improve outcomes such as rural health service sustainability. Developing a list of appropriate capabilities and setting strategies to support capability and its more nuanced domains may present unique opportunities for influence, and these may have positive effects on the rural health workforce. Of course it will need to be determined if improving rural primary health professionals' capability has positive impacts upon quality and access to care, and whether supporting capability is sustainable and worthy of investment.

Hypothesis: improving literacy about health workforce will improve rural health workforce recruitment, retention and capability.

BACKGROUND: One of the key barriers to health in rural areas is health workforce. Poor understanding and communication about health workforce across all stakeholder groups (including the broad community) is very common and can negatively affect the health workforce, recruitment, experiences and outcomes. HYPOTHESIS: In this paper, we propose the concept of literacy about health workforce. We propose this as a specific, actionable extension of the existing and well accepted health literacy concept. We hypothesise that improving literacy about health workforce will improve, in particular, rural health workforce recruitment, retention and capability. IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: We propose that literacy about health workforce is important for all members of the health and broader system (e.g. local GP, mayor, workforce agency, health manager, Aboriginal health worker, carers, community health facilitators, patients, schools, local businesses, cultural and recreation groups) because we hypothesise their literacy about health workforce affects their capacity to make informed decisions and take action to manage their health workforce needs in direct synchrony with the community's health needs. We hypothesise that improving literacy about health workforce will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of attracting, recruiting, training, and retaining a high quality, capable, health workforce, and further, will support the development and acceptance of innovative solutions to health workforce crises such as new models of care. This hypothesis is action orientated, is testable and includes the consideration of methods to engage and improve literacy of those within and external to the health workforce.

Chronic kidney disease in an Aboriginal population: A nurse practitioner-led approach to management.

PROBLEM: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant health problem impacting Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. After age adjustment, the prevalence of kidney disease is 3.7 times higher in Aboriginal people and 7.3 times higher for end-stage kidney disease compared with the wider population. Yet at an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS) with a significant patient population, fewer than expected numbers of Aboriginal patients were identified with CKD. DESIGN: The ACCHS engaged a nurse practitioner to lead a systematic approach to the identification and treatment of CKD. SETTING: This nurse practitioner-led approach to CKD was developed and implemented at a rural NSW ACCHS, with the support of a partnership formed between the nurse practitioner, the ACCHS, a nephrologist from a referral hospital and a statewide NGO. KEY MEASURES FOR IMPROVEMENT: The primary measure for improvement has been to identify and stage patients with CKD and establish management plans as appropriate. STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE: This nurse-led project was established to: (i) identify patients with CKD; (ii) provide access for CKD patients to appropriate services; (iii) commence pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies that enable remission or regression of CKD; and (iv) educate practice GPs and other staff members on CKD clinical guidelines and best practice. EFFECTS OF CHANGE: The CKD project has improved access to essential health care for vulnerable and at-risk populations, with 187 patients to date having been identified with kidney disease and staged for its severity. LESSONS LEARNT: The need for strong multi-disciplinary teamwork has been demonstrated with good communication strategies implemented.