Improving health outcomes for First Nations peoples

Our role is to ensure that the public is protected by safe and accountable pharmacists. But it is more than public safety – more than ‘do no harm‘. Our work has to also be socially accountable – that is to ‘do good as well’. We view this as our responsibility, as a standard-setting body, to implement initiatives in pharmacy education that will improve health outcomes for First Nations peoples.

Ahpra states,
Cultural safety is determined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities. Culturally safe practice is the ongoing critical reflection of health practitioner knowledge, skills, attitudes, practising behaviours and power differentials in delivering safe, accessible and responsive healthcare free of racism.

Reflections on our journey to embed cultural safety in pharmacist education

Step in the right direction was created to represent the journey Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) is on to embed cultural safety into pharmacy education programs in Australia, and thereby contributing to a culturally safe workforce.

The Literature Review | Embedding cultural safety in pharmacy education and assessments was released in August 2021. We examined health professional education programs and curricula in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

We used this literature review to identify approaches to embedding cultural safety into pharmacy education in Australia. This covers:

• the impact of educational initiatives on Indigenous health
• Indigenous health curriculum framework development in Australia
• modifications of Indigenous health curriculum framework in Nursing, Midwifery and Optometry
• a review of the use of frameworks to develop and implement curriculum.

You can also watch our presentation discussing our key findings.

Bronwyn Clark, our CEO, provided her reflections on the initiative. It has been a humbling and exciting experience listening to our Indigenous Health Strategy Group members share their stories and lead us through our cultural safety conversations.

Each conversation is available on our website:
Conversation 1: Who are we here for?
Conversation 2: What do we know?
Conversation 3: What are we doing?
Conversation 4: Where do we go from here?

Launch of an Indigenous education network for pharmacy education (LIPPE)

Following the completion of the Literature Review, under the leadership of Indigenous peoples across Australia and New Zealand, APC and the Council of Pharmacy Schools Australia and New Zealand (CPS) launched the Leaders in Indigenous Pharmacy Profession Education (LIPPE) Network in May this year. We were excited to announce this new partnership with the Council of Pharmacy Schools (CPS) which will enable us to work closer together to embed cultural safety in pharmacy education and assessments. This highlights just how integral collaboration with external colleagues is to our purpose.

The artwork commissioned as part of the Literature Review continues our connection and journey and with the blessing of the artist, Sarah Richards, and maintains this natural connection to LIPPE.

The footprints at the top part of the painting again represent APC but post the literature review. They’re moving forward, applying the findings to develop appropriate curricula and assessment to ensure their graduates are able to practice in a culturally safe way and support improved health outcomes of First Nations people. This positive impact on health outcomes for First Nations people is represented by the ripples (white dots)

These footprints now represent the LIPPE image to further demonstrate our continuing journey.

We are committed to helping all Australian pharmacists deliver culturally safe care to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are receiving healthcare on their terms – not how western society determines it to be. We’re helping to develop a network dedicated to advancing Indigenous education in pharmacist education.

REFLECT Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)

We officially launched our Reconciliation Action Plan in November 2021.

As Champion of this important work, Chief Executive Officer, Bronwyn Clark said,

“APC’s Reconciliation Action Plan is our tangible commitment. It provides us a strategic framework to learn from First Australians about the ongoing impacts of colonisation, to celebrate their cultures and to provide opportunities that will assist in closing the gaps between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.”

Our RAP pillars include actions and deliverables unique to APC such as embedding cultural safety in programs for education providers. We actively engaged with staff when compiling the content for our pillars.

The pillars of a RAP are 4 concepts provided by Reconciliation Australia:

• Relationships
• Respect
• Opportunities
• Governance

Local contemporary artist, Leah Brideson completed the artwork for the RAP design. Her piece, Always Learning reflects our continual journey of learning. It symbolises unity, growth, development and the continual flow and passing of knowledge. See the meaning behind our RAP: artwork and reflections.

Aleena Williams, a Yugambeh woman, and Director of Immunisations and Notifiable Diseases, NT Health, sat on our RAP Working Group as an advisor.

“One point I’d really like to stress is I was included to the point where I wanted to be included. I never felt like I had to do anything, or that it was my responsibility to do anything. And that was really important. It’s always good to have things that you enjoy and that are meaningful to you to help you to keep going, and that’s really where I would put this experience. “ – Aleena Williams

Reflections from the RAP Working Group

National Close the Gap day

National Close the Gap day was on Thursday 17 March. We watched a screening of Crossing the Line – A story of medical placements in remote areas challenging perspectives and self-reflection. It provided insight into the realities of providing western medical services to Indigenous communities.

First organised in 2006, Close the Gap day encourages organisations to come together to improve the health of First Nations people. It’s an opportunity for organisations and community to hold events and raise awareness of the Aboriginal health crisis, holding our governments to account on closing the gap.

Community Engagement