What are the Experiences of Indigenous Health Workers Enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Southern Queensland

Indigenous health workers (IHWs) are the largest health workforce addressing the poor health outcomes for Indigenous Australians today. This Indigenous health workforce, although highly skilled in delivering primary health care to its clients, is rarely called upon to participate in developing policies and strategies that can influence outcomes in Indigenous health. This is unfortunate because the progress made in Indigenous health often comes from Indigenous people themselves. This approach has often been referred to in the literature as "bottom up" rather than "top down" (ANTaR, 2007). This bottom up approach is effective because the right information is collected from the bottom, which can be referred to as the community. If there is no one at the top that has the same ideas and information, the bottom up information can become distorted if there are a limited number of qualified Indigenous health professionals to follow through at the top. To address this situation it is necessary to establish an Indigenous health workforce with recognized professional qualifications in health. Currently there are cohorts of Indigenous health workers from the South West Queensland region who have embarked on the journey to make the transition from Indigenous Health Workers to Registered Nurses. The motivation for most of these students is to gain professional health qualifications in order to be a voice in Indigenous health matters. Their involvement in the decision making processes for Indigenous health services that impact on their own people will assist greatly in "Closing the Gap" (Close the Gap is a government initiative to close the 20 years life expectancy gap that currently exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians) and putting an end to the current Indigenous health crisis.Submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Nursing (Hons), University of Southern Queensland, 2010