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Supporting and improving Indigenous health outcomes RACS supports the implementation of the new Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety competency
professional development courses for our members. The Indigenous Health team has also been developing and providing a range of training across all sectors of RACS, including targeted professional development for training boards, Cultural Safety and Indigenous health sessions— through Indigenous providers and the new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander courses—and the Maori Indigenous Health Institute (MIHI) training with the University of Otago in Aotearoa New Zealand. RACS is one of the first medical colleges to identify the need to introduce a dedicated Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety Competency. This new competency was developed in collaboration with the Indigenous Health Committee and Indigenous surgeons in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. It was introduced to support improvement of Indigenous health outcomes and guide members on how to provide culturally safe care. The new competency was introduced in June 2020 and is available on: https://bit. ly/3CMpuHs Having a dedicated Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety Competency framework highlights to RACS members the importance of improving Indigenous health outcomes by providing appropriate culturally safe care to Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander people and Māori. It also highlights the need to provide culturally safe care to all Indigenous patients, families, communities and colleagues. Developing the Professional Skills Framework The implementation of the new Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety Competency is supported by the Professional Skills Framework. This framework was developed in collaboration with the Indigenous Health Committee and Indigenous experts in Australia and Aoteraroa New Zealand and
will provide a framework for everyone in the College implementing the new competency. The framework identifies learning outcomes across the three stages of surgical training, including statements identifying what a Trainee should know and be able to do in early, mid and late SET. The final draft of the framework was presented to the Board of Surgical Education Training (BSET) on 15 October 2021, and will be presented to the Specialty Training Boards for review. The next stage of the framework development will include an appropriate Assessment Framework to support specialty boards and trainers implementing the newly identified Learning Objectives. Training our Fellows to implement the new competency To support the implementation of the new competency, RACS has been developing and delivering a range of
The most appropriate training was identified by BSET and the Specialty Training Boards to support the implementation of the new competency and the Professional Skills Framework. This training commenced with BSET on 14 October and the Board of Vascular Surgery on 22 October. Training will be delivered to other Boards in early 2022. AIDA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in clinical practice The first AIDA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in Clinical Practice (ATSIHICP) session was held in Brisbane on 17 July with a broad range of RACS Queensland Fellows attending. The session was delivered by Associate Professor Shannon Springer and Dr Ngaree Blow (pictured above left) at the RACS Queensland office. The session provided RACS Fellows an opportunity to learn more about connection to country and how holistic health perspectives are different to
Cultural Safety Training ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER HEALTH IN CLINICAL PRACTICE
Launched in 2019, AIDA’s cultural safety training Aboriginal and Torres Strait
