Veginadu, Prabhakar

Russell, Deborah J

Mathew, Supriya

Robinson, April

DeMasi, Karrina

Zhao, Yuejen

Ramjan, Mark

Jones, Michael P

Boffa, John

Williams, Renee

Taylor, Sean

Menezes, Leander

Cooney, Sinon

Lawrence, Kristal

Humphreys, John

Wakerman, John

Cass, Alan

2024-09-27

Nowhere is optimising healthcare staff retention more important than in primary health care (PHC) settings in remote Australia, where there are unacceptably high rates of staff burnout and turnover. Ensuing consequences for the remote health services and the community are acute - staffing shortfalls in clinics; organisational instability; excessive costs associated with frequent staff recruitment and orientation; diminished access to PHC for patients in need; and lack of continuity of patient care; all of which further entrench poor health outcomes for the community. Optimising remote healthcare staff retention is critical in order to provide high quality and continued PHC. Currently, however, there is paucity of knowledge to inform targeted and effective retention strategies in remote health services. This research program seeks to develop a stronger evidence base to understand (i) what retention strategies are effective in improving morale, job satisfaction, intention to remain in the job, and consequent length of service for remote healthcare staff; (ii) how best to 'bundle' these strategies for different health workforce groups; and (iii) how these 'bundles' work in different service contexts.This paper describes a five-year implementation research program in partnership with twelve remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Services (ATSICCHS) in the Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia. Overall methodology follows a participatory action research approach which incorporates co-design and realist elements. The program comprises two broad phases involving evidence consolidation and synthesis (Phase 1), and co-design, implementation, and prospective evaluation of 'bundles' of retention strategies (Phase 2) to improve retention of healthcare staff in participating ATSICCHSs.This innovative research program has the potential to develop a comprehensive evidence base required to optimise health workforce retention in remote health services. This new evidence will strengthen understanding of what 'bundles' of retention strategies are effective, for which groups of employees, and how they work to improve staff retention.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs, NT, Australia. prabhu.veginadu@menzies.edu.au.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Northern Territory Primary Health Network and Rural Workforce Agency Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, Australia.

The Kids Research Institute Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Northern Territory Department of Health, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Northern Territory Department of Health, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Psychology Department, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia.

Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Torres Health Indigenous Corporation, Thursday Island, QLD, Australia.

Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Pintupi Homelands Health Service, Kintore, NT, Australia.

Katherine West Health Board, Katherine, NT, Australia.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Monash University School of Rural Health, Bendigo, VIC, Australia.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia.

BMC Health Serv Res . 2024 Sep 27;24(1):1115. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-11629-1.

1472-6963

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39334066/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/13669

Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services

Health workforce

Participatory action research

Personnel turnover

Realist evaluation

Remote health

Retention

Humans

Rural Health Services

Personnel Turnover

Job Satisfaction

Australia

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Health Workforce

Health Services, Indigenous

Health Personnel

Optimising remote health workforce retention: protocol for a program of research.

Journal Article

Publication