Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner
What the work is
Provides culturally safe health care and clinical services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and advises members of health care teams on the cultural needs of clients.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Ensures members of health care teams are aware of clients' cultural needs when discussing treatment options, including relaying the importance of clients' connections to community and country
- Provides operational leadership to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers
- Facilitates and participates in outreach health services
- Completes comprehensive health assessments, including assessments for people presenting with chronic or communicable disease and acute conditions
- Undertakes screening and triage activities
- Develops, implements and supports self-management health programs
- Provides primary health care to clients
- Explains the purpose, benefits and risks of treatments to clients and their families in a culturally safe way
- Prepares medications, collects blood samples, and administers diagnostic tests, vaccinations and first aid
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a community health clinic and outreach van serving a fictional remote and regional area. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- An Elder who avoided the clinic for years walks in because someone trusted them
- You catch a hearing problem in a child early and the family gets support in time
- The whole team learns something new about the community from you
Hard days
- Long drives to outreach days when the roads are rough or flooded
- Being the only person in the room who knows the family and the community
- Explaining to a team why a plan will not work for a client without it sounding like blame
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 441931, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.