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The patient-end role: being the local hands

How Aboriginal Health Workers, Practitioners and nurses make a remote consult work.

What this is: an explanation of the patient-end role, the person in the room who makes a remote consult work.

Who it's for: Aboriginal Health Workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners, nurses, and the managers who support them.

The most important person on the call

In clinically-augmented virtual care, the remote clinician leads the decisions, but the consult only works because of the person at the patient end. That person is the local hands of the remote clinician, and often the reason the patient feels safe to attend at all.

The patient-end role is usually filled by a nurse, an Aboriginal Health Worker, or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner. The two roles are different. An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner is registered with the national regulator and works within a defined scope. An Aboriginal Health Worker may hold different qualifications and work within their own role description. Both bring clinical skills and deep community knowledge.

What the patient-end person does

  • Prepares the patient and the room. Explains what will happen, settles the patient, and sets up a private, culturally safe space.
  • Runs the equipment. Operates the camera, digital stethoscope, otoscope and vitals devices as the remote clinician directs.
  • Is the clinician's eyes and hands. Describes what they see and feel in the room, and performs hands-on tasks the clinician cannot do remotely.
  • Holds the cultural context. Bridges language and cultural differences, supports communication, and helps the patient feel safe to speak up.
  • Supports consent and understanding. Makes sure the patient understands and agrees, and arranges an interpreter when needed.
  • Carries out and follows up the plan. Completes agreed actions within scope and supports the patient afterwards.

Why this role is central to cultural safety

Cultural safety is decided by the patient, their family and their community. A trusted local person, especially an Aboriginal Health Worker or Practitioner from the community, is often what makes care feel safe. They are not an add-on to the clinical team. They are a core part of it, and their knowledge of the patient and the community is clinical information in its own right.

Services that invest in these roles, with training, support and a clear pathway to grow, get safer care and a stronger, more stable local workforce.

Working within scope, and on behalf of a GP

Everyone in the patient-end role works within their scope of practice and their organisation's policies. Some tasks are done on behalf of a GP, and some of these services can be billed to Medicare under specific rules. The detail sits in two other articles:

  • Scope of practice and working on behalf of a GP, in the Policies, procedures and compliance section.
  • Funding and billing, for the Medicare items that apply.

Supporting the role

  • Give staff time and training to build confidence with each device before they use it with a patient.
  • Make sure they can escalate easily and are never left to carry an urgent decision alone.
  • Recognise the role in how you plan, roster and fund the service, not just in the moment.

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Visionflex acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.