Medical and allied health staff self-reported long-term conditions

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the self-reported long-term conditions of medical officers and allied health staff working in a regional public health service in northern Australia and how these conditions are managed. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey design was used. The sample was all medical officers and allied health staff employed in mid-2015. Findings Of the 365 respondents, 217 (59.5 per cent) reported having at least one long-term condition. There was a statistically significant association between professional group and the number of long-term conditions reported, χ2=10.24, p<0.05. A greater proportion of medical officers (n=29, 43.9 per cent) reported having only one long-term condition compared with allied health staff (n=36, 24.5 per cent). The top four categories of conditions were respiratory, musculoskeletal, mental health and episodic and paroxysmal, although the patterns varied amongst the professional groups, and across age groups. Respondents usually managed their main long-term conditions with personal strategies, rarely using workplace strategies. Research limitations/implications Although somewhat low, the response rate of 32 per cent was similar to previous surveys in this health service. Since this survey, the health service has implemented a broad Health and Wellness Programme to support their qualified workforce. Future evaluations of this programme will be undertaken, including whether the programme has assisted health professionals to manage their long-term conditions. Practical implications There is an urgent need for targeted, workplace-based health promotion strategies to support staff with long-term conditions. Such strategies would complement self-management approaches, and also provide an important recruitment and retention initiative. Originality/value This study adds empirical evidence regarding the long-term conditions among health professionals and their self-management strategies. Little is known about the long-term conditions among the various health professional groups and the findings thus make an important contribution to the existing literature.

Administrative staff self-reported long-term conditions

“…Potentially, 927 administration staff had an opportunity to respond to the invitation to complete their questionnaire during the four-week data collection period. A total of 328 completed questionnaires were submitted, a response rate of 35 per cent which was similar to previous similar surveys in this health service (Smyth et al , 2016; Smyth et al , 2017).…”

“…The study describes the self-reported long-term conditions that administrative staff working in a large regional health service manage on a day-to-day basis. The proportion of administrative staff without a long-term condition was found to be less than that of the other major staff groups within the same health service (Smyth et al , 2016; Smyth et al , 2017). In this study, musculoskeletal disorders were the major category of self-reported long-term conditions.…”

“…Reminder e-mails were sent weekly to encourage participation. The questionnaire was based on a paper-based instrument used previously with nurses, midwives, medical officers and allied health staff working in this health service (Smyth et al , 2016; Smyth et al , 2017). It comprised four parts: demographics and employment profile, existing long-term conditions, experience of pain associated with reported long-term conditions and how respondents managed their long-term conditions.…”

“…Those working in administrative roles comprise office support workers, clerks, receptionists, secretaries, personal assistants, programme administrators, managers and office-based professionals such as those in human resource and legal fields (ANZSCO Major Group 5, 2009). Although there are a number of recent publications about long-term conditions in some health professional groups (Smyth et al , 2016, 2017), no publications could be located that specifically addressed the topic of long-term conditions or their management amongst administration officers working in healthcare.…”

Conceal or reveal? Patterns of self-disclosure of long-term conditions at work by health professionals in a large regional Australian health service

“…No other studies were found which specifically compared disclosure of long-term conditions among medical officers, nurses, midwives and allied health professional staff. Indeed, previous studies have highlighted the paucity of robust evidence regarding the prevalence of long-term conditions, particularly physical co-morbidities, among health professional staff (Smyth et al, 2016;Smyth et al, 2017). By contrast, many studies have reported the prevalence of mental health conditions such as psychological distress, depression or depressive symptoms, and suicide or suicidal ideation amongst medical staff (Schwenk et al, 2008;Bailey et al, 2018), nurses (Cheung and Yip, 2015) and midwives (Creedy et al, 2017).…”