In Review – Katherine NT Teaching Workshop 2018
In addition to conducting research, HOT NORTH annually hosts a series of three regional teaching workshops across northern Australia. The first for 2018 was in Katherine last month.
We received overwhelming positive feedback from the first ever Katherine based HOT NORTH workshop. Participants felt that the local Katherine/NT/northern Australia location, content and priorities made the event relevant to their local needs. One participant said it was “good that something like this was held in Katherine, making it accessible to all” while another said, it was important to have “local content and local perspectives”.
The workshop attracted over 100 health professionals from the Katherine region and beyond. Participants included executive leaders from local health centres, managers, doctors, nurses, midwives, Aboriginal health practitioners, dietitians, pharmacists, students, researches, education and health promotion officers and administrators.
“There were so many great presentations.” “Raising awareness to all these topics is essential for improvement/research ideas.” – Feedback from participants following the workshop
Talks were given by local health professionals and HOT NORTH researchers and covered regionally important health concerns such as antimicrobial resistance, diabetes in pregnancy and youth, rheumatic heart disease, and scabies and skin health. It gave HOT NORTH researchers and Katherine health professionals the opportunity to strengthen relationships and facilitate learning experiences to develop and transform health practices across northern Australia.
“It was great to have different chairs from Katherine,” said one participant. While many other participants noted that they enjoyed the fact that the opening session focussed on Katherine priorities. Others commented that it was “great to see various HP/service providers all in one room discussing health in Katherine/NT/Northern Australia”.
The teaching workshop assisted participants in finding out what is happening in the region. Special mention was made about the involvement of Aboriginal Staff and presenters, noting that it was critical to ensuring the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were heard.
HOT NORTH’s next teaching workshop is scheduled for 24-25 July on Thursday Island in Queensland.