National Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Strategy Background Paper: Monograph Series No. 69
4.5 Building the capacity of the workforce to engage in prevention and harm reduction
As many people at risk of, or currently using, ATS, do not come into contact with treatment agencies, or have a tenuous link with such services, workforce development strategies need to target a range of health professionals. Those likely to be affected include GPs, psychiatrists, mental health workers, accident and emergency staff, ambulance officers, youth workers, community health workers, staff from needle and syringe programs and consumer organisations. Thus, people in the workforce who come into contact with ATS users need to be appropriately informed and skilled to respond effectively to problems arising from the use of these drugs. This issue is addressed more comprehensively in Chapter 5 (‘Treatment’), but briefly introduced here.
Given the identification of GPs and community health services as services commonly accessed by ATS consumers, it was suggested by a number of participants at consultations that GPs could take a critical role in communicating harm reduction messages and information. It was suggested that many patients might attend their GP for problems that are potentially ATS related (e.g., sleep disorders; depressed mood). As noted by one participant, these clinical encounters provide an opportunity to screen for ATS use and provide information about harm reduction and, where indicated, referral for further treatment:
- Primary health care providers such as GPs, represent an entry point and should be mobilised into a harm reduction role and given better referral pathways.
- Engage consumers in an appropriate environment and context to provide immediate support and referrals whilst offering safer sex products and practical harm reduction information.
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A major project to develop training materials for health professionals working with ATS users was initially undertaken in Victoria under funding from the National Drug Strategy. This led to the development of a comprehensive training kit, ‘From Go to Whoa: Amphetamines and Analogues, The Trainers Package for Health Professionals (Pead et al., 1996).
The pack included a video, trainers’ notes, overhead transparencies, slides and a participant workbook. Materials were intended for those in primary health care settings and covered basic knowledge and attitudes, problems associated with ATS use and withdrawal. The package was disseminated through a national train-the-trainer workshop and evaluation concluded that it was an effective and low cost strategy for dissemination and utilisation of a training package (Allsop et al., 1999).
The ‘From Go to Whoa’ training package was subsequently revised by Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre in Melbourne to bring it up to date with current knowledge on psychostimulants. In 2007, the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing provided funding for a national dissemination of this resource to assist in increasing skills and knowledge on psychostimulants, which will enhance the capacity of a range of workers to provide appropriate interventions to psychostimulant users.
Another national training program is the ‘Amphetamine Education Resources (AER) Project’ and the related ‘National Amphetamine Training Package (NATP)’. In 2005/2006, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria collaborated to develop the AER, and by the end of 2006, all states and territories were involved. The resources are designed to assist Needle and Syringe Programs (NSPs), alcohol and drug workers, and other frontline workers in the delivery of brief interventions with amphetamine users. The resources included topic-specific information cards to assist frontline services conducting brief interventions, a recovery guide for consumers, and a manual for NSP workers and other healthcare professionals. NATP is delivered by Anex and provides train-the-trainer courses around the AER across the country. As the context of amphetamine use may differ across jurisdictions, the NATP was developed to be flexible and able to address local circumstances.
