Icon Cancer Centre Corporate Office, 22 Cordelia St, South Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia.
J Med Imaging Radiat Sci. 2023 Dec;54(4S):S38-S43. doi: 10.1016/j.jmir.2023.07.016. Epub 2023 Aug 6.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples receive a poorer cancer prognosis compared to non-Indigenous Australians. Indigenous access to cancer care is limited by several factors, including differences in cultural understanding surrounding cancer and distrust of mainstream health institutions. It is believed that radiation therapy is being under-utilised by the Indigenous community. In response, several strategies were implemented to increase presentation and attendance by Indigenous Australians at a rural, private radiation therapy practice.
A local Indigenous health service, Traditional Owners and Elders and the clinic's Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group were consulted to implement initiatives to reduce barriers to engaging in healthcare. One of these initiatives involved community consultation to select a culturally safe, Indigenous word to name one of the clinic's linear accelerators. Indigenous patient referrals into the clinic were tracked using an oncology information system. It is expected that by implementing several culturally safe strategies, there would be an increase in utilisation of the radiation therapy service and therefore, a decrease in Indigenous cancer burden across the local region. If strategies were yielding positive outcomes, there would be scope to implement these at other sites across a broader monitored network.
Currently, service utilisation is being monitored to determine whether initiatives have been successful. Initial data evaluation has been conducted and results are showing increased service utilisation by the Indigenous community.
Work has been undertaken to implement strategies to improve cultural safety and improve access to radiation therapy for Indigenous cancer patients. Preliminary results show an increase in the number of presentations to the clinic for radiation therapy treatment.
与非原住民澳大利亚人相比，原住民的癌症预后较差。原住民获得癌症护理的机会受到多种因素的限制，包括对癌症的文化理解差异以及对主流医疗机构的不信任。据信，原住民社区对放射治疗的利用率较低。为了应对这一问题，针对在农村私立放射治疗机构就诊的澳大利亚原住民实施了几种策略来增加其就诊率。
咨询了当地的原住民健康服务机构、传统所有者和长者以及诊所的和解行动计划工作组，以实施减少参与医疗保健障碍的举措。其中一项举措涉及社区咨询，以选择一个文化安全、原住民的单词来命名诊所的一台线性加速器。通过肿瘤信息系统跟踪诊所的原住民患者转诊情况。预计通过实施几种文化安全策略，放射治疗服务的利用率将会提高，从而降低当地的原住民癌症负担。如果策略产生了积极的结果，就有可能在更广泛的监测网络中的其他地点实施这些策略。
目前正在监测服务利用率，以确定这些举措是否成功。已经进行了初步的数据评估，结果显示原住民社区的服务利用率有所提高。
已经开展了工作来实施改善文化安全和改善原住民癌症患者获得放射治疗机会的策略。初步结果表明，到诊所接受放射治疗的人数有所增加。
