Abstract
Burns affect Australia’s First Nations children more than other Australian children, they also experience longer lengths of stay in tertiary burns units and face barriers in accessing burn aftercare treatment. Data sets from two studies were combined whereby 19 families, 11 First Nations Health Worker (FNHW) and 56 multidisciplinary burn team members from across Australia described the actual or perceived role of FNHW in multidisciplinary burn care. Data highlighted similarities between the actual role of FNHW as described by families and as described by FNHW such as enabling cultural safety and advocacy. In contrast, a disconnect between the actual experience of First Nations families and health workers and that as perceived by multidisciplinary burn team members was evident. More work is needed to understand the impact of this disconnect and how to address it.
Highlights
This paper reports on data from two sub-studies led by authors JC and SF to better understand the role and contribution to care by First Nations Health Worker (FNHW) in multidisciplinary burn care for First Nations children, data from the two sub-studies were combined
The data have been arranged into three sections—the FNHWs’ perspectives of care, the multidisciplinary burns team perspectives of the role, and the First Nations families’ perspectives of the FNHWs’ role
Remote participants needing multidisciplinary teams for ongoing burn aftercare described the importance of the FNHWs in supporting children and families accessing burn aftercare
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Australia is made up of distinct groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, each group has their own culture, language, beliefs and practices. Strait Islander peoples are the first peoples of Australia, and there is evidence of their existence in Australia many thousands of years prior to European colonisation. They are acknowledged and respected as the Traditional Custodians of the Land
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