Be Counted This Census

The Australian Census is being completed on Tuesday 11th August. The Census is conducted every five years and provides a snapshot of Australia's population, workforce, and communities.

Why its important for us to use the census to capture data about our profession?

Particularly for self-regulated health professions, the Census is an important source of national workforce data.

Information collected through the Census helps governments and organisations understand:

• How many health professionals are working in Australia.

• Where health professionals are practising.

• The skills and qualifications available across the workforce.

For Dermal Clinicians this is important to show our true numbers so that we can obtain a descriptor and unique health professionals code under OSCA - Occupation Standard Classification of Australia.

 Having our own OSCA code has many positive flow on effects for the profession.

Guidance on questions that make a big impact toward accurately providing data about us

We are encouraging all Dermal Clinicians and Dermal Therapists to accurately report their profession, qualifications, and employment information. Key questions include:

1. Occupation (Question 42)

Select the health profession that best matches your primary qualification and scope of practice.

For example:

• Dermal Clinician working in Skin Cancer Clinic should state 'Dermal Clinician in Skin Cancer Surveillance'.

• A Dermal Clinician in a clinic 'Dermal Clinician in private practice'

• A Dermal Clinician working as an educator is a 'Dermal Clinician in education'

• A Dermal Clinician working in another area such as business development, marketing, policy, etc is a 'Dermal Clinic in [insert relevant area of work]

We encourage Dermal Therapists to do the same. You already have a unique OSCA code and descriptor, however accurately monitoring workforce data including specialisations, clinical settings and numbers working across areas is important.

2. Qualifications (Question 34)

Accurately record your highest completed qualification. This may be linked to occupation by the ABS to ensure professions are correctly identified. Higher education qualification levels listed from highest to lowest can be found here to inform your response.

3. Employment Information (Question 38)

Ensure your responses accurately reflect:

• Employment status

• Hours worked

• Industry of employment

• Main work location

What if you are a student?

If you are a student Question 43 is very important for the government to see how many dermal clinicians may be emerging over the coming years. Make sure to put your Bachelor Degree Name in full and if you are able to (student dermal clinician).

Everyone Counts!

By completing the Census accurately and with detail, we can improve workforce data and support workforce planning now and into the future.

More information about the Census and hints to complete it can be found on the ABS website.