Study protocol: national research partnership to improve primary health care performance and outcomes for Indigenous peoples

Bailie, Ross, Si, Damin, Shannon, Cindy, Semmens, James, Rowley, Kevin, Scrimgeour, David J., Nagel, Tricia, Anderson, Ian, Connors, Christine, Weeramanthri, Tarun, Thompson, Sandra, McDermott, Robyn, Burke, Hugh, Moore, Elizabeth, Leon, Dallas, Weston, Richard, Grogan, Haylene, Stanley, Andrew, and Gardner, Karen (2010) Study protocol: national research partnership to improve primary health care performance and outcomes for Indigenous peoples. BMC Health Services Research, 10. 129. pp. 1-11.

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Abstract

Background: Strengthening primary health care is critical to reducing health inequity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The Audit and Best practice for Chronic Disease Extension (ABCDE) project has facilitated the implementation of modern Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) approaches in Indigenous community health care centres across Australia. The project demonstrated improvements in health centre systems, delivery of primary care services and in patient intermediate outcomes. It has also highlighted substantial variation in quality of care. Through a partnership between academic researchers, service providers and policy makers, we are now implementing a study which aims to 1) explore the factors associated with variation in clinical performance; 2) examine specific strategies that have been effective in improving primary care clinical performance; and 3) work with health service staff, management and policy makers to enhance the effective implementation of successful strategies.

Methods/Design: The study will be conducted in Indigenous community health centres from at least six States/Territories (Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria) over a five year period. A research hub will be established in each region to support collection and reporting of quantitative and qualitative clinical and health centre system performance data, to investigate factors affecting variation in quality of care and to facilitate effective translation of research evidence into policy and practice. The project is supported by a web-based information system, providing automated analysis and reporting of clinical care performance to health centre staff and management.

Discussion: By linking researchers directly to users of research (service providers, managers and policy makers), the partnership is well placed to generate new knowledge on effective strategies for improving the quality of primary health care and fostering effective and efficient exchange and use of data and information among service providers and policy makers to achieve evidence-based resource allocation, service planning, system development, and improvements of service delivery and Indigenous health outcomes.

Item ID: 35794
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1472-6963
Additional Information:

© 2010 Bailie et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funders: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Projects and Grants: NHMRC #545267, NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellowship #569919, NHMRC Research Fellowship #283303
Date Deposited: 15 Oct 2014 16:48
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111701 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9203 Indigenous Health > 920301 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health - Determinants of Health @ 100%
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