Workforce development
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Successful programs rely on having a skilled, knowledgeable, respected and committed workforce who can work as a team. Ensuring that our large, mobile health workforce is adequately trained as well as kept up-to-date with new and emerging issues presents many challenges.

Workforce development should aim to:    

  • build capacity and broaden the range of healthcare workers able to test for and manage STIs and BBVs  
  • enable practitioners to have the confidence, skills and knowledge to increase testing and provide appropriate and up-to-date management of STIs and BBVs  
  • work in partnership and use the skills of relevant health services and staff and existing programs to deliver training and support programs.

Most people with STIs are managed through primary healthcare services and, while training is often focused on staff working in primary care, people with STIs and BBVs are also frequently managed through hospitals.

It is important when considering training programs to ensure that relevant hospital staff members are not overlooked, particularly those working in obstetrics, surgery and emergency departments.

Training the health workforce, particularly those working in regional and remote areas, presents unique challenges and issues such as:  

  • competing health priorities and training needs  
  • lack of adequate funds and staff to deliver training in some areas  
  • rapid staff turnover    
  • locum staff and visiting specialists who may have limited prior experience working in areas of high STI prevalence  
  • lack of knowledge about the epidemiology of STIs and clinical and public health guidelines specific to the region    
  • lack of experience and skills related to managing STIs and BBVs    
  • potential barriers due to gender, language and culture    
  • real or perceived lack of professional support available.

Identify the specific needs of the workforce and address gaps in management. Focus on key and emerging issues, gaps in management and the needs of staff in both primary care and hospital settings such as:    

  • local epidemiology of STIs and BBVs, the key age groups and priority populations affected   
  • clinical management guidelines specific to the region or priority population 
  • new and emerging issues, such as the responses to the syphilis outbreak, who is affected and updated testing and management protocols  
  • availability and access to new, better tolerated and more effective DAA treatment for hepatitis C  
  • addressing common gaps in testing and management such as:  
    • increasing the low rates of testing among the highest risk age group (15 to 30) and in particular among 15 to 19-year-old women and young men  
    • increasing the uptake of testing in a way that is easy and acceptable  
    • integrating testing into routine healthcare delivery    
    • improving the management of low abdominal pain and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) among young women by increasing awareness of common presenting signs and symptoms, and addressing the common mismanagement of PID as urinary tract infections (UTIs) or appendicitis    
  • complying with public health responsibilities with regard to the notification of STIs and BBVs and mandatory reporting requirements.

Develop partnerships and use existing networks to assist with accessing and delivering training. Be familiar with what is available with regard to up-to-date STI and BBV clinical management guidelines, staff training and support. STI and BBV clinical management guidelines include:

  • Silver Book – A guide for managing sexually transmitted infections (Silver Book)  
  • Sexual Health Orientation Manual for Endemic Regions    
  • Australian STI management guidelines  
  • Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) HIV and viral hepatitis resources and management guidelines    
  • Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) National Guidelines for Public Health Units – updated syphilis management guidelines  
  • Guidelines specific to a region or organisation such as the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services (KAMS) and Kimberley Population Health Unit (KPHU) clinical guidelines.

Organisations and services that provide or can assist with training:  

  • ASHM  
  • SHQ  
  • AHCWA  
  • Fremantle and Royal Perth Hospital Sexual Health Services    
  • Regional population/public health units (PHUs)