Expanding telehealth utilisation in a national aeromedical service

Join our forum to hear research professionals various fields. 

The delivery of primary health care (PHC) services to remote and rural communities is a global challenge due to distance and cost. Limited access to health services is thought to contribute to higher morbidity and lower life expectancy for rural Australians. A national aeromedical service provider approached the Centre for Health Services Research (CHSR) seeking advice on how to re-engineer its primary care delivery service to improve its response time and access to services.  

The project aimed to identify the extent to which traditional fly-in fly-out (FIFO) primary care consultations can be supplemented and enhanced by telehealth consultations. A telehealth model for primary care was introduced with a focus on increasing access. Uptake was mixed across the implementation sites for a number of reasons. The presentation will discuss the intial results of the study, outline a brief summary of the barriers and enablers that were identified from analysing the implementation and adoption process, and provide a ‘Next Steps’ perspective from our industry partner. 

Presenters include: 

• Professor Len Gray, Director, Centre for Health Services Research
• Dr Melinda Martin-Khan, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Health Services Research
• Dr Joanna Kho, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UQ Business School
• Dr Lara Bishop, Director Research & Projects, Royal Flying Doctor Service

Wednesday, 30 October 12:30-1:30pm (lunch provided at 12pm) in Room 2007, TRI