Exploring utilisation of the allied health assistant workforce in the Victorian health, aged care and disability sectors

Abstract

Background Allied health assistants (AHAs) support allied health professionals (AHPs) to meet workforce demands in modern healthcare systems. Previous studies have indicated that AHAs may be underutilised in some contexts. This study aims to identify factors contributing to the effective utilisation of AHAs across health, aged care and disability sectors and possible pathway elements that may optimise AHA careers in Victoria. Methods Using an interpretive description approach data collection included a workforce survey and semi structured interviews (individual and group). Data analysis included descriptive statistics, independent t-tests and thematic analysis. Participants included allied health assistants, allied health professionals and allied health leaders in the health, aged care or disability sectors; educators, managers or student of allied health assistance training; and consumers of Victorian health, disability or aged care services. Results The literature scan identified numerous potential barriers to and enablers of AHA workforce utilisation. A total of 727 participants completed the survey consisting of AHAs (n = 284), AHPs & allied health leaders (n = 443). Thirteen group and 25 individual interviews were conducted with a total of 119 participants. Thematic analysis of the interview data identified four interrelated factors (system, training, individual and workplace) in pre-employment training and workplace environments. These factors were reported to contribute to effective utilisation of the AHA workforce across health, aged care and disability sectors. Study findings were also used to create a conceptual diagram of potential AHA career pathway elements. Conclusion This study identified pre-employment and workplace factors which may contribute to the optimal utilisation of the AHA workforce across Victorian health, aged care and disability sectors. Further study is needed to investigate the transferability of these findings to national and global contexts, and testing of the conceptual model.

Delegation of patient related tasks to allied health assistants: a time motion study

“…[ 1 , 4 , 6 ] Victorian government led initiatives are aiming to alleviate this uncertainty, such as the development and implementation of frameworks to inform AHA scope of practice. [ 23 , 25 ] These initiatives have encouraged expansion of AHAs’ scope of practice and greater utilisation of AHAs by professions other than physiotherapy and occupational therapy. [ 26 , 27 ] Our findings potentially reflect that AHAs working in the Victorian public healthcare setting are well supported to undertake a predominantly patient-facing role.…”

Allied health assistants' perspectives of their role in healthcare settings: A qualitative study

“…In Australia, allied health assistants (AHAs) are critical to both the local health service and broader policy‐level response to increasing and enduring health workforce shortages (New South Wales Ministry of Health, 2020 ; Somerville et al, 2015 , 2018 ). AHAs work with allied health professionals (AHPs) under their delegation and supervision to provide a range of allied health services (Huglin et al, 2021 ; Snowdon et al, 2020 ). The allied health professions comprise a range of autonomous healthcare professions that can be categorised as therapy disciplines (e.g., dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry) and science disciplines (e.g., audiology, optometry, pharmacy, radiography) (Department of Health & Human Services, 2016 ).…”

“…The allied health professions comprise a range of autonomous healthcare professions that can be categorised as therapy disciplines (e.g., dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry) and science disciplines (e.g., audiology, optometry, pharmacy, radiography) (Department of Health & Human Services, 2016 ). AHAs provide direct therapeutic services, coordination of group therapy, and administrative and other non‐clinical support services (Huglin et al, 2021 ; Moran et al, 2015 ).…”

“…AHAs play a fundamental role in healthcare delivery and yet remain underutilised in many health and social care settings. In part, this is due to inconsistent and inappropriate delegation, limiting AHAs' opportunities to practice to their full scope (Huglin et al, 2021 ; Nancarrow et al, 2013 ; Rushton et al, 2021 ; Somerville et al, 2018 ). There are numerous reasons underlying the inadequate delegation including: incompatible workforce structures (Somerville et al, 2018 ); immature relationships between delegating AHPs and AHAs; AHPs' lack of knowledge of confidence or trust in AHAs' abilities; AHPs' lack of confidence in their ability to undertake or supervise the clinical task (Brown et al, 2020 ; Nancarrow et al, 2013 ; Somerville et al, 2015 ); and a reluctance to relinquish part of the AHP role domain (Mickan et al, 2018 ; Nancarrow et al, 2013 ).…”

“…Accordingly, there has been increased interest in developing evidence‐based strategies to maximise the utilisation of the AHA workforce. Previous studies have explored the AHAs’ role (Lizarondo et al, 2010 ; Stanhope & Pearce, 2013 ); AHPs' role in delegating to and supervising AHAs (Brown et al, 2020 ), and ways to optimise the use of AHAs' skills to support AHPs (Huglin et al, 2021 ; Moran et al, 2015 ; Somerville et al, 2015 , 2018 ). These studies, however, are limited by either the non‐inclusion of AHAs as participants, or by the inclusion of AHAs in combination with other stakeholder groups without distinction of AHAs' unique perspectives and contributions.…”