The Safewards Model of Care is a flexible and adaptable program of evidence-based interventions designed to minimise workplace conflict, aggression, and violence. It was originally developed in the mental health nursing context and has been adopted in other clinical contexts. This paper will examine Safewards and how it facilitates authentic collaboration, partnership, and person-centred care.

Rosemary Wyber

Our team were commissioned in 2019 by the Commonwealth Department of Health to develop Policy and Practice options to support improvements in chronic disease care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We used a strengths-based approach to identify positive deviance; using AIHW nKPI date we identified high performing ‘lighthouse’ services. We approached these sites to understand their stories about successful care delivery. 

Qualitative data collection was possible in 4 of 40 service delivery organisations approached. Focus groups and/or interviews were conducted with patients, carers and staff associated with those services. We received input from 75 participants and 54 person-hours of qualitative data recording. These results were thematically analysed. We also conducted a rapid review of barriers/enablers of chronic disease care. By triangulating the existing evidence base with qualitative findings we identified seven key elements of effective service delivery. We are currently consulting with participating services and stakeholders about how enabling features of these elements can be augmented through policy options.  

Within the Health Research Institute at the University of Canberra, two research labs have been established to support world class health research on a continuum from research data management and high-performance computing to spatial modelling,  data visualisation and decision support. These are the Australian Geospatial Health Lab (AGeoH-L) and The Visual and Decision Analysis (VIDEA) Lab. This presentation will provide an overview of the function of these labs including case studies of how they work together with partners both locally and internationally to generate evidence-informed knowledge to influence health policy and practice.