Why did they leave and what can they tell us? Allied health professionals leaving rural settings

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the lack of retention of allied health professionals in rural areas in Victoria, Australia. A structured telephone interview was used to elicit responses from 32 allied health professionals from south-west, central-west and north-east Victoria about their working experiences and reasons for resignation. The data revealed that work experiences in rural areas can be summarised within three domains: organisational, professional and personal/community. Under the organisational domain the participants were mainly focussed on the way in which their work arrangements require them to be both more generalist in their approach to day-to-day work, and more expansive in shouldering management style functions in the workplace. Under the professional domain there were three major issues; clinical, career and education/training. The personal/community domain focussed on issues to do with their affinity for their workplace as well as their location in a rural place. The attempts by government to address some of the leading factors for retention of allied health professionals are perhaps too narrowly focussed on the public sector and could encompass a wider approach.

Palliative care professional education via video conference builds confidence to deliver palliative care in rural and remote locations

“…Consistent with O’Toole’s findings [24] that allied health practitioners were under prepared for rural work, they reported the lowest levels of confidence before the video conferences. Despite rating the content as less useful, allied health practitioners recorded the second highest level of confidence change.…”

“…Similarly, rural nurses consider that palliative care is integral to their role, but find it difficult in the absence of adequate support and continuing education [22,23]. Allied health practitioners working in rural areas also report being under-prepared and lacking access to continuing education [24,25]. The recommended educational strategies for these groups include conducting a needs analysis and designing context specific programs [3,26].…”

Allied Health Professionals and Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review

“…Within this sector, allied health professionals (AHPs) are important providers of services for individuals who are sick or injured, or have a disability. AHPs comprise occupational groups that have similar job roles, levels of job satisfaction, and issues concerning work life balance and staff retention [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. The allied health professions include those of physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, prosthetists and orthotists, dieticians, sonographers, social workers, osteopaths, audiologists, radiologists, exercise physiologists, perfusionists, and, under some definitions, chiropractors [9].…”

Rural Carers of People with Disabilities: Making Choices to Move or to Stay

“…This decision involves a trade-off between the rural lifestyle and the potential for greater service access. There is a growing body of literature addressing the factors influencing clinicians' decisions about whether to stay or leave rural practice (Cutchin et al, 1994;Hays, Wynd, Veitch, & Crossland, 2003;O'Toole, Schoo, & Hernan, 2010), but little has been written about this decision making from the viewpoint of rural carers.…”