The 40th annual Towards Unity for Health Conference (TUFH) is being hosted in Darwin this week by Flinders NT, showcasing research from all over the world and sharing the unique insights of Flinders health experts in the top end.
Leigh Moore, lecturer in nursing and allied health, will talk about the University’s success with escape rooms as an element in its strategy to encourage rural Territorians to consider health careers. They have also been used as a popular tool to speedily build relationships and knowledge of clinicians and students on short-term health placements.
“We are always on the lookout for innovative strategies to encourage young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and local students in particular, to consider health careers,” Ms Moore says.
She says the escape room competition was found to foster the students’ identity and familiarity with Flinders “which is valuable to help them envisage what life as a student might look like.”
Held in a different country every year, Flinders University is hosting the landmark TUFH anniversary event that is seeing international heavy weights converge to advance world health.
Associate Professor Narelle Campbell is on the conference organising committee and chairs its Scientific Committee. She says “this year’s conference theme ‘Social Accountability – from evidence to action’ will share the newest studies, trials and thought leadership from all around the world.
“It’s a pivotal event for the international health community to learn from each other – including new ideas, what’s worked, what’s emerging, while brainstorming and networking towards common goals.”
Professor Paul Worley, National Rural Health Commissioner and a Flinders University Emeritus Professor, and Reconciliation Australia co-chair Professor Tom Calma AO, will headline conference keynotes together with international guests including a World Bank health economist and Professor Gurmeet Singh, who will provide an update on Australia’s largest and longest running Aboriginal health study, the Birth Cohort Study.
Associate Professor Campbell will deliver her own presentation introducing clinical practitioners to the concepts of supervision and teaching.
An expert in health workforce development, she says qualified health professionals are frequently tasked with supervising and teaching learners in the workplace, an important role that significantly influences the future contributions of emerging health workers.
“Practitioners do this while balancing their clinical responsibilities, yet many have little or no training on which to base their teaching,” Associate Professor Campbell says.
The conference is the major annual event of ‘The Network: Towards Unity for Health’, an international organisation fostering equitable health education and community health services all over the world.
View the program here.