Using secondments in tertiary health facilities to build paediatric expertise in allied health professionals working in rural New South Wales

Abstract Outline of problemAllied health professionals working in rural settings have broad caseloads requiring advanced skills as general specialists. This can include children with specialised needs. DesignEducational secondments were coordinated for allied health professionals to achieve self‐nominated learning objectives. Learning objectives were assessed using pre and post evaluations to determine the effect of the educational secondment on knowledge and confidence specific to the nominated learning outcomes. SettingEducational secondments were undertaken by allied health professionals from New South Wales Health facilities in regional or rural locations outside of the Sydney metropolitan area. The educational secondments occurred in tertiary‐level hospitals or specialist health facilities. Key measures for improvementUsing self‐reported questionnaires, allied health secondees’ outcomes were assessed prior to the secondment, immediately following and again at 6 months post‐secondment, and their managers at 6 months post‐secondment. The program aimed to improve the allied health professional's knowledge and confidence around self‐selected learning objectives related to the specialised care of children with complex health needs in rural settings. Strategies for changeAllied health professionals reported increased knowledge and confidence immediately following the secondment which was sustained at 6 months. On the basis of this outcome, the secondment program ...
Source: Australian Journal of Rural Health - Category: Rural Health Authors: Tags: Quality Improvement Report Source Type: research