"HealthConnect SWS" PDF

Presentation brief Jas: Hi, we are Pink 4. We were looking at the South Western Sydney Local Health District for this assignment. Our campaign is an app that assists with searching and booking healthcare services for CALD communities in the SWSLHD. Elizabeth: The SWS area covers 6,243 square kilo...

Presentation brief Jas: Hi, we are Pink 4. We were looking at the South Western Sydney Local Health District for this assignment. Our campaign is an app that assists with searching and booking healthcare services for CALD communities in the SWSLHD. Elizabeth: The SWS area covers 6,243 square kilometres of land. The population of males in this area is 49.2% and 50.8% females. The most common ethnicities in SWS are Australian (11.3%), Chinese (7.4%), Vietnamese (9.7%) and Italian (5.6%). There is poor primary and secondary education systems in the most rural areas. Attendance rates from primary school to secondary school dropped from 26.8% to 23.2%. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that in 2021, there was a total of 6396 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in SWS. 48% are male and 52% are female with a median age of 22 years old. The average number of people per household is 3.2 with a median weekly income of $1607. Angie: The South Western Sydney district has a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population that is growing exponentially with more than 2500 refugees and humanitarian entrants settling each year. It is paramount that we clarify that we want to celebrate and embrace the beauty of diversity in the SWSLHD, however we did identify that this growing community faces a variety of communication challenges when it comes to healthcare. There is already an imbalance of health literacy competency, so navigating and booking appointments for healthcare services when english is not a primary language can be rather difficult. This can result in poor health outcomes, prolonged treatment and increased expenses. According to the World Health Organisation, social determinants of health are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age. In the context of CALD communities in SWS two social determinants of health include; - language barriers - socioeconomic status These SDH significantly influence communication barriers and the lack of health literacy. Language barriers; - the CALD community faces the inability to effectively communicate as the primary language if healthcare in Australia is english. This leads to misunderstandings, misdiagnosis and non-adherence to treatment plans. Sofia: Our chosen demographic is the CALD community that makes up 43% of the SWSLHD population. This community faces greater challenges when dealing with the health and welfare system due to language barriers, limited health literacy, and challenges in navigating an unfamiliar system. These factors increase the risk of lower-quality healthcare, inadequate service delivery, and poorer health outcomes compared with other Australians. Hence, we are addressing the priority health needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds within SWS. The main areas of concerns within this group are improving access and quality of care, building health literacy, and understanding health needs. In the SWSLHD, we have identified that the most common languages other than English are Vietnamese, Cantonese and Arabic (insert statistic). Our campaign specifically targets this group of CALD peoples. It is our goal that this app creates an online platform that is easy to navigate, provides guidance and recommendations for healthcare services that meet the specific needs of the patient and has an additional extension where the user can indicate their signs and symptoms, and the duration of their condition. This data is used to then direct the patient to the best healthcare provider. BUDGET OUTLINE: Item Cost Description App development cost $50,000 Includes design, build and testing of app (IOS and android) Content creation $15,000 Creating multilingual health literacy resources (Cantonese, Arabic, Vietnamese) Marketing and outreach $10,000 Promoting the app within the CALD community - posters/flyers in the area with QR code to app store → promoted by healthcare services also Partnerships and training $10,000 Collaborating with healthcare providers in SWS for training and education on navigating the app and explaining it to patients in a user friendly way. Maintenance and updates $5,000 Ongoing updates and improvements during the first year to ensure sustainability User research and $5,000 Conducting surveys and reading through reviews feedback for areas of improvement - survey pop up on the app after first use etc. Administration costs $5,000 Legal fees, project management etc HealthConnect SWS The app will be a crucial tool for the culturally and linguistically diverse community, bridging the gap between them and essential healthcare services. Features of HealthConnect SWS ➔ Multilingual interface - When logging into the app for the first time, users will be able to select their language first spoken out of: Arabic, Vietnamese and Cantonese (being most common languages spoken after english in SWS) ➔ Health services directory - Users can search for services based on location, specialty, language spoken, bulk-billing availability, user ratings ➔ Appointment scheduling - Users can schedule appointments with healthcare providers directly through the  app - Automated reminders for upcoming appointments and health check ups ➔ Emergency information - Quick access to local emergency services, including hospitals and hotlines such as beyond blue Jas: Upstreaming in a public health context describes the factors that operate on a macro level to improve the quality and accessibility of health services for particular demographics in an area. It is important that we clarify that we are not looking at the CALD community in the SWSLHD as the root ‘problem’. We have just identified that this demographic experiences challenges with communication that leads to less satisfying health outcomes. It is our goal to celebrate and embrace diversity through being inclusive and supportive of all cultures and languages. Peter: L L L Kyle: Designed a user-friendly interface for both healthcare providers and patients with the intent to encourage continuous use in times of need ○ A study by Cripps & Scarbrough (2022) found that poorly designed systems were a limitation in creating a sustainable app and suggested taking account of the user for more efficient and effective care Working in collaboration with GPs and health specialists: ○ A two-way relationship that directs people to specialists, GPs or other health professionals easily while providing evidence-based information to assist in assessing and managing signs and symptoms Similar to South Western Sydney: HealthPathways → a project with the aim to be a referral information portal at point-of-care by GPs who provide content collaboratively with health professionals Free to download ○ Easily accessible to everyone ○ Part of the budget is set aside for maintenance and updates to keep the app running → requires partnerships to continue running the app Information is easily accessible and available for the three most common languages in SWS (Arabic, Vietnamese and Cantonese) ○ Reduces the frustration of language barriers with the intent to improve health literacy among the CALD population ○ It will require more languages to accommodate other people from non-English speaking backgrounds Success can be through CALD Assist → free communication app to support patient care for nurses and allied health staff in hospital settings → results show increased confidence while using the app and reduced  frustration when interacting with people from non-English speaking backgrounds Scope ○ Add more languages ○ Use visual aids ○ Translation tools for in-office appointments ○ Expand advertisement to target tourists in non-English speaking countries ○ Continued maintenance, bug fixes and admin ○ Educate healthcare workers on a global scale