Paeds · preventive-and-community-paediatrics
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child health
Also known as Indigenous Australian child health · First Nations Australian paediatric care · ATSI child health · Aboriginal child health · Torres Strait Islander child health · Culturally safe Aboriginal paediatric care
Fellowship-level culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: structural inequities, ACCHO partnership, ear lung skin and post-strep pathways, developmental vulnerability, racism as a health exposure, and regional distinctions from other Indigenous health systems.
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Red flags
- Assuming identity from appearance, or failing to ask and record Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status
- Deficit language, stereotyping, or treating cultural difference as non-compliance
- Chronic wet cough or chronic ear disease attributed only to 'behaviour' or 'poor parenting'
- Missed acute rheumatic fever features in a child from a high-incidence setting — or dismissal because the child is urban
- Excluding Aboriginal Health Workers or ACCHO partners from care planning
- Delaying emergency care for cultural discussions — do both: resuscitate and communicate
Life stages
Care settings
Clinical exam formats
Board mappings
- General and Community Paediatrics
- Population Child Health and Advocacy
- Professional Qualities
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 12: Communication with patients, families, and health professionals
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 15: Essential general paediatrics
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 19: Population child health and advocacy
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 20: Cultural safety and health equity
- Clinical Applications
- Long Cases
- Short Cases
- Communication
- 5. Health promotion and illness prevention
- 6. Leadership and team working
- 9. Patient safety, including safe prescribing
- General Paediatrics: Recognises the effects of the social determinants of health
- Foundation of Practice (FOP)
- Applied Knowledge in Practice (AKP)
- History
- Management Planning
- General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 1: Preventive Pediatrics/Well-Child Care
- General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 10: Behavioral Medicine/Mental Health
- General Pediatrics Content Outline — Universal Task 2: Epidemiology and Risk Assessment
- General Pediatrics Content Outline — Universal Task 5: Prevention
- Patient Care 5: Patient Management
- Systems-Based Practice 3: System Navigation for Patient-Centered Care
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills 1: Patient- and Family-Centered Communication
- Professionalism 1: Professional Behavior and Ethical Principles
- Medical Expert
- Health Advocate
- Communicator
- Pediatrics: Foundations EPA #8 — Communicating assessment findings and management plans to patients and/or families
Overview & Definition
A registrar presents an Aboriginal toddler with chronic wet cough and school hearing concerns. The family left a previous clinic after feeling judged. This is core general paediatrics in Australia, not an optional special interest. [2] [12]
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the First Nations peoples of Australia. They hold diverse languages, cultures, Countries and community structures. Never treat “Indigenous” as one culture or one postcode. [1]
Health, in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander frameworks, is holistic. It includes physical health, social and emotional wellbeing, cultural identity, kinship and connection to Country. A problem list that only lists diagnoses misses the family’s goals. [1]
Cultural safety is not a badge you award yourself. It is defined by whether the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person experiences care free of racism and power misuse. Cultural awareness is a starting step. Cultural safety is the outcome families feel. [2] [3]
References18ShowHide
- [1]Verbunt E Cultural determinants of health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - a narrative overview of reviews. International journal for equity in health, 2021.PMID 34384447
- [2]De Zilva S Culturally safe health care practice for Indigenous Peoples in Australia: A systematic meta-ethnographic review. Journal of health services research & policy, 2022.PMID 34875923
- [3]McGough S There is no health without Cultural Safety: why Cultural Safety matters. Contemporary nurse, 2022.PMID 35014602
- [4]Hardy BJ Systematic review of Indigenous cultural safety training interventions for healthcare professionals in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. BMJ open, 2023.PMID 37793931
- [5]Kairuz CA Impact of racism and discrimination on physical and mental health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples living in Australia: a systematic scoping review. BMC public health, 2021.PMID 34217243
- [6]Cave L Racial discrimination and child and adolescent health in longitudinal studies: A systematic review. Social science & medicine (1982), 2020.PMID 32143088
- [7]Cave L Racial discrimination and the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: Does the timing of first exposure matter? SSM - population health, 2019.PMID 31649999
- [8]DeLacy J The social determinants of otitis media in aboriginal children in Australia: are we addressing the primary causes? A systematic content review. BMC public health, 2020.PMID 32295570
- [9]Harkus S Routine ear health and hearing checks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged under 6 years attending primary care: a national consensus statement. The Medical journal of Australia, 2023.PMID 37716709
- [10]Harkus S Development of the national consensus statement on ear health and hearing check recommendations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged under 6 years attending primary care. BMC primary care, 2024.PMID 38486181
- [11]DeLacy J Ear health and hearing in urban Aboriginal children. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 2023.PMID 37517360
- [12]Chang AB Lung disease in indigenous children. Paediatric respiratory reviews, 2014.PMID 24958089
- [13]McCallum GB Comparison of Profiles of First Nations and Non-First Nations Children With Bronchiectasis Over Two 5-Year Periods in the Northern Territory, Australia. Chest, 2021.PMID 33964302
- [14]Laird P Prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases in Aboriginal children: A whole population study. Pediatric pulmonology, 2022.PMID 36098280
- [15]Parnaby MG Rheumatic fever in indigenous Australian children. Journal of paediatrics and child health, 2010.PMID 20854325
- [16]Rémond MG Screening for rheumatic heart disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Journal of paediatrics and child health, 2013.PMID 23638751
- [17]Hull B Annual immunisation coverage report 2021. Communicable diseases intelligence (2018), 2023.PMID 37817316
- [18]Leonard D Early childhood anaemia more than doubles the risk of developmental vulnerability at school-age among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children of remote Far North Queensland: Findings of a retrospective cohort study. Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia, 2020.PMID 31914484