Pathways Research Design
The Patient Pathways project will explore current alcohol and other drug treatment services and follow people’s use of health and other services and use this information to provide advice about the future of alcohol and other drug service provision in Australia.
PROJECT AIMS
The Patient Pathways project has three priorities:
- Documenting current alcohol and other drug prevention and treatment systems in Australia
- Understanding pathways through care
- Describing a specialist alcohol and other drug system in terms of interventions and linkages with primary / community care
The project will:
- Describe the current alcohol and other drug systems in each state and territory, using publicly available information and consultations with jurisdictional and national experts;
- Link data from alcohol and other drug services, emergency departments, and hospitals to examine alcohol and other drug client experiences with health services and systems;
- Conduct initial and follow-up interviews with clients that are new to an alcohol and other drug service, to explore their journey into, through, and following treatment along with their contact with other systems and their views on treatment; and
- Critically analyse the information obtained and seek advice from an international advisory group to arrive at suggestions for system design and development.
PROJECT TEAM
Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre is leading the project, with assistance from consortium partners; the National Drug Research Institute; the Alcohol and Drug Council of Australia and Monash University.
Dr Lynda Berends, Prof Robin Room, Prof Dan Lubman, A/Prof David Best, Janette Mugavin, Andrew Larner, Dina Eleftheriadis
[Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre]
Prof Steve Allsop, Dr Julia Butt, Dr Sue Carruthers, Dr Tina Lam
[National Drug Research Institute]
Dr Penny Buykx
[School of Rural Health, Monash University]
Ms Meredythe Crane
[Alcohol and Drug Council of Australia]
If you would like further information about the study, please contact Dr Lynda Berends:
Email:
Lynda.Berends@turningpoint.org.au
Telephone: +61 3 8413 8448
PROJECT ADVISORY MECHANISMS
The Department of Health and Ageing have established an Expert Steering Committee to provide expert advice on alcohol and drug reform activities, including the Patient Pathways project. Members of this Committee have expertise in alcohol and drug treatment, program management and experience spanning the government and non-government sectors.
A project Advisory Group will be convened to provide advice on the preliminary findings and future directions for system design. The group includes experts in service system design from Canada, the USA, and Northern Europe.