Injury, Int. J. Care Injured (2008) 39S5, S73–S75 www.elsevier.com/locate/injury The building blocks of a professional response to Indigenous injury Kelvin Kong a, *, Russell L. Gruen b a John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, New South Wales; b University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia KEYWORDS Indigenous; Injury; Surgeons On November 22nd, 2007 the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons convened a symposium entitled Injury in Indigenous Populations Towards a Safer Future. It brought together people committed to improving the well-being of Indigenous people through lessening the impact of injury. Indigenous and non-Indigenous health professionals from Australia, New Zealand, North America and the Pacific Islands, along with health policy experts, injury researchers and represen- tatives of professional bodies, met to define the magnitude of injury-related morbidity and mortality, to share and reflect upon experiences of past programs and policies, and to consider effective strategies for the future. Many different perspectives on the common problem of Indigenous injury were voiced. There was broad agreement that Indigenous injury concerns are complex, and that interpersonal violence and even road trauma are intertwined with social, circumstantial, cultural and historical factors. We heard of the need to challenge views that violence, in particular, is ‘normal’ and unavoidable. Approaches are needed that include, but also go beyond, the traditional domains of health care. High-quality surgical care, often provided by dedicated individuals, is necessary, but on its own, it is insufficient. An overarching approach to * Corresponding author. Mr Kelvin Kong. Suite 1.6, NPH Medical Suites, Lookout Road, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia. E-mail: kelvinkongent@gmail.com (K. Kong). Indigenous surgical care requires focus on good governance and policy and a broader conception of the role of professionals. The successes underpinning a national reduction in road trauma mortality clearly demonstrate that lessening the impact of indigenous injury requires a multi- sectoral approach, which profession groups are ideally placed to promote (see Box 1). The proposed agenda for a professional response to reducing Indigenous injury highlights the importance of collaboration and the need to strengthen community, government and profes- sional partnerships. It also stresses the need for more Indigenous people in health-related professions. From the perspective of a professional college, an improved approach to address health problems, patients, their families and communities requires focus on policy and service provision, and on quality data to inform both. We heard of the need to fill in the gaps in national, state and local Indigenous health policy; in particular, the need to be more specific in the detail about problems, actions, goals and targets, and to better use data to drive this policy agenda. Service provision would benefit from guideline development to promote best-practice Indigenous health care, with emphasis on communication, family, cultural, and system factors. Given the problems many Indigenous people have accessing services, specific accessibility targets could help to promote timely care. Maximising participation of Indigenous people in the workforce (both at a 0020-1383/$ see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.