Co-designed project to strengthen cultural safety in emergency departments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients
Members of the Deadly Steps team – Clinical Research Nurse Stacey Watts, EMF-funded Identified Research Assistant Kaytarnah Stewart, and Dr Mosh Shittu.
A new multi-site research project is working to improve health outcomes through increased cultural safety in emergency departments by partnering directly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers to redesign care experiences.
At Caboolture Hospital and partner sites, Dr Michelle Davison, Medical Director Emergency Service Line, is working with a dedicated Deadly Steps Team to adapt the NHS 15 Steps Challenge to a culturally appropriate framework using a co-design approach grounded in Indigenous research values and principles.
The Caboolture Hospital Deadly Steps team includes Emergency Physician Dr Mosh Shittu, Identified Research Assistant Kaytarnah Stewart, and Clinical Research Nurse Stacey Watts.
Funded by the Emergency Medicine Foundation, including the Identified Research Assistant role, the project brings clinicians and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers together to walk through emergency department spaces across Caboolture, Redcliffe, Nambour and Sunshine Coast University Hospitals.
Dr Davison said that the project enables staff to see care environments through the eyes of community members and their families.
“Through forming connections and yarning, staff and community aim to share knowledge to identify practical opportunities on each walk through, to improve health engagement, experiences and outcomes and help address health inequalities in acute care,” Dr Davison said.
Protocol for the research was designed utilising Participatory Action Research, purposeful co-designed yarning sessions, insights from research team members, and learnings from community and existing Deadly Steps programs.
“Cultural safety is essential to delivering high-quality emergency care,” Dr Davison said.
“This project ensures the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers are central to how we design and improve our services.
“The ultimate aim is to deliver a practical toolkit for both emergency department and wider hospital areas to meaningfully engage with their local community in order to support culturally responsive care and improve experiences and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Early learnings from Sunshine Coast and Redcliffe Hospitals show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community want to feel more connection with their emergency departments. This connection can be enhanced by having more identified staff and ‘faces that look like them’; opportunities to connect with family; warm, light and welcoming spaces with art and nature; and demystifying processes through regular knowledge sharing with community.
Caboolture Emergency Department is the last site to test the protocol, with a planned walk through in July 2026.