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Australian Health Review Australian Health Review Society
Journal of the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association
RESEARCH ARTICLE

What does co-design mean for Australia’s diverse clinical workforce?

Reema Harrison https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8609-9827 A D , Melvin Chin B and Eidin Ni She C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Australian Institute of Healthcare Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.

B Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Email: melvin.chin@health.nsw.gov.au

C School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Email: eidin.nishe@unsw.edu.au

D Corresponding author. Email: reema.harrison@mq.edu.au

Australian Health Review 46(1) 60-61 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH21116
Submitted: 1 April 2021  Accepted: 2 June 2021   Published: 30 August 2021

Abstract

Co-design is increasingly employed as a user-centric method to create healthcare change. In healthcare co-design, small groups of consumers and healthcare workers come together to identify processes, policies or service elements that require improvement and to design solutions. Multiple frameworks have emerged to guide the health work force and health researchers how to conduct co-design and support consumer members to engage in the process effectively. Frameworks have sought to address the propensity for co-design to exacerbate inequities for consumers with complex care needs or in under-served populations. Advice regarding the need to consider and ensure co-design is accessible to an increasingly diverse health workforce is, however, lacking. Drawing on our experience co-designing with diverse consumer and healthcare-worker populations, we discuss the implications of co-design for the healthcare workforce.


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