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Primary Health Care for Young People: Are There Models of Service Delivery That Improve Access and Quality?

NCJ Number
215012
Journal
Youth Studies Australia Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 49-59
Author(s)
Melissa Kang; Diana Bernard; Tim Usherwood; Susan Quine; Garth Alperstein; Helen Kerr-Roubicek; Abigail Elliott; David Bennett
Date Published
June 2006
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper presents six models of primary health care which appear to be promising in improving youth access and quality of primary health care for young people in New South Wales (NSW) between the ages of 12 to 25; arguments are presented for the need to evaluate these models.
Abstract
Access to health care for Australian young people needs to become a national mainstream priority. Recommendations to reduce the current fragmentation of primary health care delivery for young people include: further evaluation of the six models described; that existing health services examine their service delivery; that GPs or general practitioners become more accessible to young people; and that services and programs adopt the seven principles of better practice. Six health care models worthy of consideration include: (1) the Youth Health Service (YHS); (2) the area-based youth health coordinator; (3) the GPs in Schools; (4) co-located GP-run clinic; (5) school-based clinic; and (6) innovative access points (arts, music, Internet, and telephone). Each model is based on seven principles: access facilitation, evidence-based practice, youth participation, collaboration, professional development, sustainability, and evaluation. These six models are worthy of consideration because of the frequency with which they occurred, the promise they showed for facilitating access and reaching hard-to-reach youth and/or because existing literature supports further development of the model in Australia. However, a general absence of evaluation beyond process was discovered. Further evaluation of these models is a priority for sustainability and to guide service development in NSW. Tables, references