The event
The RECOVER Injury Research Centre, the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine (now the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences) co-hosted the Consumer Roundtable 2024: Bringing researchers to the consumer table to explore regional and rural health research priorities.
The event, held at the Dalby Events Centre on the 14th of February 2024, brought together community members and researchers to discuss rural and regional health priorities. The program included a series of group discussions as well as short presentations on rural and regional health care and consumer involvement in health research.
Thanks to the project lead, Jo Maxwell, members of the consumer advisory team, members of the academic team led by Prof Trevor Russell, our speakers, Prof. Anthony Smith, Dr Bushra Nasir and Prof Tracy Kolbe-Alexander, moderators Dr Bec Jenkinson, Anja Christoffersen and Jessica Taylor and all the consumer and researcher attendees
This event was made possible through funding from a Queensland Government – Engaging Science Grant.
The aims
The Roundtable is part of UQ’s commitment to meaningful and effective involvement of consumers in health and medical research, especially in regional & rural areas. The event aimed to build a greater understanding between the two expert groups (consumers and researchers) and raise awareness of health priorities in rural and regional areas.
The outcomes
A graphic artist captured the outputs from small round-table discussions on community priorities in rural and regional health research and a whole group 'harvest' discussion on the next target for research in regional and rural health.
Attendees discussed three topics in small groups:
- What does regional and rural healthcare look and feel like?
- What unique health challenges and innovations have you experienced or seen in your community?
- How can the health system (the big wigs) better respond to the needs of your community?
The event ended with a whole group ‘harvest’ discussion on the topic: What should be the next target for research in Regional and Rural Health? The outcomes of this discussion were also captured in a graphic display.
What next?
Researchers are incorporating consumer contributions from the day into our research priority setting.
A research idea inspired by one of the topics consumers raised at the roundtable is now being investigated by researchers at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre. The topic “consumers find it difficult to navigate the health system, the availability of services and their entitlements” sits broadly under the consumer identified priorities of 'Programs to improve health literacy and self-advocacy skills in the community' and 'Increasing awareness of health and wellbeing services available locally.' The project will compare AI chatbot with Google search results to see which provides the best results for navigating the health system.
Notes from the roundtable discussions
The full text from the graphic recordings is provided below.