RACGP and NACCHO promote updated guide to preventive health assessments

That partnership is demonstrated in the co-development of the National guide to a preventive health assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (the National guide), which is currently being updated for its third edition. The guide is designed as a practical resource for all health professionals delivering primary care to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
 
‘The National guide has been extremely well received by the Aboriginal community controlled health sector,’ Assoc Prof Sophia Couzos, NACCHO National guide Project Lead, told newsGP. ‘Everyone has been pleased with the issues addressed in the National guide.’
 
Those issues include lifestyle, child and young people’s health, rheumatic heart disease, eye health, hearing loss, sexual health and blood-borne viruses, antenatal care, mental health, cardiovascular disease prevention, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, prevention and early detection of cancer, and preventive health for older people.
 
‘The National guide is a clinical tool in terms of prevention, but also a tool for education for healthcare providers, Assoc Prof Couzos said. ‘People also plan to use it as a policy tool and to inform programs supporting best practice.’
 
According to Lauren Trask, NACCHO National Guide Implementation Officer, the publication remains consistent with the national policy platform around quality improvement initiatives.
 
‘The National guide provides linkage with the Quality Improvement module in the fifth edition of the RACGP’s Standards for general practices,’ she told newsGP. ‘It also has exciting and challenging new chapters, and reinforces the environmental and social determinants of health for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander patients.’
 
The updated third edition of the National guide is scheduled for release in February 2018, with RACGP and NACCHO hosting a series of workshops across the country to support its implementation.

Aboriginal-and-Torres-Strait-Islander NACCHO RACGP the-National-guide