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Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland

BACKGROUND: Allied health professionals practicing in rural and remote areas are often faced with barriers that prevent them from accessing professional development opportunities. In order to address this barrier, a tailored professional development program was developed and implemented by the Cunni...

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Autores principales: Martin, Priya, Kumar, Saravana, Stone, Melinda, Abernathy, LuJuana, Burge, Vanessa, Lizarondo, Lucylynn
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4745846/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26893585
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S92879
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author Martin, Priya
Kumar, Saravana
Stone, Melinda
Abernathy, LuJuana
Burge, Vanessa
Lizarondo, Lucylynn
author_facet Martin, Priya
Kumar, Saravana
Stone, Melinda
Abernathy, LuJuana
Burge, Vanessa
Lizarondo, Lucylynn
author_sort Martin, Priya
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Allied health professionals practicing in rural and remote areas are often faced with barriers that prevent them from accessing professional development opportunities. In order to address this barrier, a tailored professional development program was developed and implemented by the Cunningham Centre in Queensland, Australia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits of the program to participants and their work units. METHODS: This study used a concurrent mixed methods longitudinal design to investigate the medium- to long-term benefits of one Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placement. Surveys and individual interviews provided data at 2 weeks and at 6 months post-placement. The study participants included the placement participant (a physiotherapist), their line manager, clinical supervisor, and the placement facilitator. RESULTS: Results demonstrated that the placement resulted in various reported benefits to the placement participant, as well as to service delivery in their home location. Benefits of the placement reported by the participant included increased confidence, improved knowledge and skills, increased access to professional networks, and validation of practice. Benefits to service delivery reported included improved efficiencies, improved patient outcomes, and positive impact on other team members. DISCUSSION: This study found that the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placement investigated was beneficial to the participant and to service delivery. In addition, the benefits reported were sustained at 6 months post-placement. Despite the fact that this study showcases experiences from one setting, the findings from this study and the lessons learnt may be transferrable to other similar programs elsewhere due to its methodological strengths (such as rich descriptions of the program and use of typical case sampling). While this study provides emergent evidence of usefulness of the program to participants and their work units, further studies are warranted to investigate the direct benefits of such placements on patient care, which remains as the holy grail of the impact of professional development opportunities. CONCLUSION: Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements can result in important benefits to the participant, their health service, and positively influence health care service delivery.
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spelling pubmed-47458462016-02-18 Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland Martin, Priya Kumar, Saravana Stone, Melinda Abernathy, LuJuana Burge, Vanessa Lizarondo, Lucylynn Adv Med Educ Pract Original Research BACKGROUND: Allied health professionals practicing in rural and remote areas are often faced with barriers that prevent them from accessing professional development opportunities. In order to address this barrier, a tailored professional development program was developed and implemented by the Cunningham Centre in Queensland, Australia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits of the program to participants and their work units. METHODS: This study used a concurrent mixed methods longitudinal design to investigate the medium- to long-term benefits of one Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placement. Surveys and individual interviews provided data at 2 weeks and at 6 months post-placement. The study participants included the placement participant (a physiotherapist), their line manager, clinical supervisor, and the placement facilitator. RESULTS: Results demonstrated that the placement resulted in various reported benefits to the placement participant, as well as to service delivery in their home location. Benefits of the placement reported by the participant included increased confidence, improved knowledge and skills, increased access to professional networks, and validation of practice. Benefits to service delivery reported included improved efficiencies, improved patient outcomes, and positive impact on other team members. DISCUSSION: This study found that the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placement investigated was beneficial to the participant and to service delivery. In addition, the benefits reported were sustained at 6 months post-placement. Despite the fact that this study showcases experiences from one setting, the findings from this study and the lessons learnt may be transferrable to other similar programs elsewhere due to its methodological strengths (such as rich descriptions of the program and use of typical case sampling). While this study provides emergent evidence of usefulness of the program to participants and their work units, further studies are warranted to investigate the direct benefits of such placements on patient care, which remains as the holy grail of the impact of professional development opportunities. CONCLUSION: Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements can result in important benefits to the participant, their health service, and positively influence health care service delivery. Dove Medical Press 2016-02-04 /pmc/articles/PMC4745846/ /pubmed/26893585 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S92879 Text en © 2016 Martin et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Original Research
Martin, Priya
Kumar, Saravana
Stone, Melinda
Abernathy, LuJuana
Burge, Vanessa
Lizarondo, Lucylynn
Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland
title Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland
title_full Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland
title_fullStr Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland
title_full_unstemmed Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland
title_short Impact and feasibility of the Allied Health Professional Enhancement Program placements – experiences from rural and remote Queensland
title_sort impact and feasibility of the allied health professional enhancement program placements – experiences from rural and remote queensland
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4745846/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26893585
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S92879
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