Program
Empowering voices: Educating health professionals for respectful and inclusive conversations
The 2026 theme explores how we prepare future health professionals to have meaningful, inclusive conversations that help people feel heard, respected, and empowered. It focuses on building the skills and confidence needed to communicate effectively across diverse abilities, identities, cultures, and experiences.
People with diverse needs bring perspectives that enrich healthcare interactions. When communication honours lived experience and access requirements, it strengthens trust and collaboration.
Assumptions, systemic bias, and fear of error can create barriers to fully inclusive, person‑centred communication. The 2026 program provides practical strategies, real‑world insights, and evidence‑based approaches to help educators embed inclusive communication across curricula and clinical contexts.
Agenda
Learning outcomes:
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Understand the importance of educating future health professionals for respectful and inclusive conversations with patients
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Explore emerging tools and share best practice, challenges and strategies to engage in respectful and inclusive conversations with patients and the health care team
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Identify strategies across health disciplines on how to foster inclusive and respectful behaviours between health professionals
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Learn how to provide opportunities for students to build skills for respectful and inclusive conversations
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Demonstrate awareness of lived experiences to understand how they empower voices and support respectful, inclusive conversations
Time
Session content & speakers
Opening Ceremony
9:00am
Welcome ceremony
Ngunnawal Elder, Uncle Bradley Bell
Welcome to Country
Plenary
Disability, Mental Health and the Role of Pharmacy as Part of an Ecosystem of Support
9:15am
This session aims to position pharmacy within an ecosystem of support for people with disability and severe mental illness. The presentation will focus on 1) the broader issues facing people with disability and mental health challenges in an Australian policy and practice context and their impact on individuals, 2) the role of pharmacy as part of an ecosystem of supports to address these issues, 3) effective working and collaborating with people with disability and mental health challenges to open up dialogue that will ensure that pharmacy-related work is well targeted to their needs.
Keynote
Accessible Communication: Building Trust and Safety in Patient Care
9:55am
Explore how accessible communication builds trust and strengthens patient care. This session shares lived‑experience insights and practical strategies to support respectful, inclusive conversations and elevate communication practices across interprofessional education and clinical settings.
Presentation
MORNING TEA
Empowering pharmacy students to lead Best Possible Medication Histories, enabling greater patient engagement and more inclusive, person-centred conversations
10:25am
Pharmacy students were trained and assessed to safely conduct Best Possible Medication Histories (BPMHs) in regional hospitals, supporting patient-centred, inclusive communication and interprofessional collaboration. Under pharmacist supervision, students used multiple sources to compile and reconcile medication histories. Preliminary findings showed a 25% increase in BPMH completion, comparable discrepancy detection to pharmacists, reduced time to completion, enhanced student confidence, improved workflow, and strengthened collaborative, respectful practice. This adaptable model supports inclusive care, improved communication and workforce development.
Presentation
Lived experience - What we need from future health professionals
11:20am
A range of panel members with lived experience in the healthcare system will share their insights and perspectives, highlighting the skills future health professionals should develop to deliver respectful, considerate, and patient-centred care. An extended Q&A will give attendees the chance to ask panel members for guidance on what is expected of future health professionals.
Panel
Embedding inclusive practices across health education programs
12:20pm
Federal Government policy and the Universities Accord have both signalled a deliberate intent to increase the participation rates in Australian Higher education. This includes attracting a diverse student cohort including people with disability, and diverse learning needs, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, first Nations Australians, and people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Often times, this results in students asking for accommodations in teaching, learning and assessment, without scaffolding these accommodations for work readiness and workplace success. This presentation reflects on the use of large scale clinical simulations for health professional students to scaffold work readiness using authentic learning opportunities, supporting diverse student cohorts to achieve success.
Presentation
LUNCH
Weaving First Nations Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing into health professional education: A physiotherapy program case example
2:00pm
The inclusion of First Nations Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing is an accreditation requirement in health programs; however, empirical examples of effective curricular integration remain limited. In 2022, Griffith University’s physiotherapy program established a Physiotherapy Deadly Curriculum working group to integrate First Nations Knowledges through a scaffolded, program‑level approach. Guided by a cultural safety journey encompassing awareness, knowledge, practice and advocacy. The groups approach has enhanced staff awareness, student engagement, and culturally responsive curriculum.
Presentation
Theory to practice: case studies on navigating inclusion in the workplace
2:25pm
Attendees will be guided through a series of case studies in an interactive workshop focused on inclusive, respectful conversations with interprofessional colleagues and in the workplace.
Workshop
AFTERNOON TEA
Rehearsing empathy: Using drama in a simulation framework to facilitate difficult conversations
3:55pm
This presentation highlights a drama‑based approach to healthcare simulation using scripted scenarios to build empathy, communication, and professional skills. Participants engage with short, pre‑printed scripts that allow them to experiment with different personas while maintaining psychological safety and professional identity. By integrating drama into simulation, learners explore challenging interactions from multiple perspectives, deepen their understanding of emotional and ethical dimensions of care, and strengthen their ability to communicate and collaborate respectfully in interprofessional settings.
Presentation
Outcome statement
4:20pm
A closing discussion to summarise the day's key insights. The outcome statement outlines APC's commitment to furthering future health professional's education on how to have respectful and inclusive conversations.
Plenary
Networking reception
5:00pm
Hotel Realm
Continue the conversation and enjoy some light refreshments at our networking reception.