Recognition of the health assistant as a delegated clinical role and their inclusion in models of care: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative evidence

Munn, Zachary; Tufănaru, Cătălin; Aromataris, Edoardo

doi:10.1111/j.1744-1609.2012.00304.x

Cited by 40 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The training methods also enabled critical reflection on their practice, by using case scenarios applicable to their everyday work. Similar to other studies (Munn et al, 2013) mentorship and supervision support were identified by participants as highly desirable for their continuous learning beyond the training.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…Yet these workers have largely been excluded from chronic condition care coordination pathways and planning, despite their vital role in communicating client progress and issues of concern. Care coordinators have been reluctant to delegate and therefore to maximize support workers' interactions with clients and their communication with professional staff (Mellor et al, 2010;Menne et al, 2007;Munn, Tufunaru, & Aromataris, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Support workers as agents for health behavior change: An Australian study of the perceptions of clients with complex needs, support workers, and care coordinators

Lawn

Westwood

Jordans

et al. 2016

Gerontology & Geriatrics Education

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An expanding aging population has placed increased demands on health care resources in many countries. Enhancing community aged care support workers' role to support greater client self-management and reablement is therefore timely. This article presents perceptions of the impact of an Australian practice change initiative designed to enhance knowledge, skills, and confidence of support workers to support behavior change in clients with complex health care needs. A comprehensive training program was delivered in 2013. Methods included thematic analysis of interviews with clients, focus groups with support workers and coordinators, and collection of case studies of client/support worker behavior change interactions. Client, support worker, and coordinator responses were highly positive, reporting improvement in the quality of interactions with clients, client health outcomes, care coordination, communication, and teamwork. Mental health literacy remained the biggest knowledge gap. This research showed that support workers are ideally placed to be more actively involved in motivating clients to achieve behavior change goals.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support workers as agents for health behavior change: An Australian study of the perceptions of clients with complex needs, support workers, and care coordinators

Lawn

Westwood

Jordans

et al. 2016

Gerontology & Geriatrics Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Based on audit interviews, this relative underutilisation of advanced level assistants may be attributed to a number of factors including ambiguity in duty statements or the unwillingness of professionals to delegate more complex tasks (despite those tasks being recorded on the task list). Interestingly while recent studies have noted numerous concerns with greater use of assistants [30,31], they do not appear to have recognised underutilisation and the practical implications of underutilisation in these positions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As noted in a recent systematic review [30], the training and induction of assistants is a highly important but contentious area. In the current audit, on the job training, whether delivered as part of a formal qualification or not, was identified as the primary source of training for the trial positions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot implementation of allied health assistant roles within publicly funded health services in Queensland, Australia: results of a workplace audit

Stute¹,

Hurwood²,

Hulcombe³

et al. 2014

BMC Health Serv Res

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BackgroundAllied health assistants provide delegated support for physical therapists, occupational therapists and other allied health professionals. Unfortunately the role statements, scope of practice and career pathways of these assistant positions are often unclear. To inform the future development of the allied health assistant workforce, a state-wide pilot project was implemented and audited.MethodsNew allied health assistant positions were implemented in numerous settings at three levels (trainee level, full (standard) scope and advanced scope level). Six months after implementation, 41 positions were audited, using a detailed on-site audit process, conducted by multiple audit teams.ResultsThematically analysed audit findings indicated that both the full (standard) scope and the advanced scope positions were warranted, however the skills of the allied health assistants were not optimally utilised. Contributing factors to this underutilization included the reluctance of professionals to delegate clinical tasks, inconsistencies in role descriptions, limitations in training, and the time frame taken to reach an effective skill level.ConclusionsOptimal utilisation of assistants is unlikely to occur while professionals withhold delegation of tasks related to direct patient care. Formal clinical supervision arrangements and training plans should be established in order to address the concerns of professionals and accelerate full utilisation of assistants. Further work is necessary to identify the key components and distinguish key features of an advanced allied health assistant role.

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“…One example is the ambiguity between nursing assistants and registered nurses regarding their roles and tasks (Munn, Tufanaru, & Aromataris, 2013). Today, many health care professionals are required to widen their scope of practice.…”

Section: Professions and Professionalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care : Education and Practice

Falk¹

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Background: Interprofessional collaboration is of global interest for addressing to the complex health care needs and improving patient safety in health care. Professionals have to develop collaborative skills and the ability to share knowledge. Interprofessional education describes learning activities where students learn with, from and about each other to improve collaboration. The dimension of interprofessional collaboration is complex and includes different collaborative competencies to bring about the best for the patients. To become a professional, often understood as someone exerting expertise within a specific field of practice, involves a learning process that challenges the boundaries of the professions. Boundaries are not only barriers, but also places that increase learning. There is a complexity to studying the phenomenon of interprofessional collaboration and learning regarding how it occurs in education and health care practice. By using a sociomaterial perspective on practice, it is possible to more robustly explore the collaborative context. Aim: The overarching aim of the thesis has been to explore interprofessional collaboration and learning in health care education and in interprofessional health care practice. More specifically, the research questions in the thesis were answered in two studies regarding how professional knowledge is developed and shared in interprofessional undergraduate health care education and in interprofessional health care practice. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to students from a medicine, nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy programme who participated in a two-week period of practice at an Interprofessional Training Ward in Linköping. The data was analysed quantitatively to explore how female and male students experienced their professional identity formation. The open-ended responses were analysed using a sociomaterial perspective on practice. An ethnographic study was conducted in a hospital setting during a period of one year, during which two interprofessional teams were observed. A theory-driven analysis was made using a sociomaterial perspective on practice, and this provided a lens through which the nature of interprofessional collaboration and knowledge sharing could be observed. Findings: The main findings from the questionnaire showed that the practice architectures of the Interprofessional Training Ward, prefigured practices where different professional responsibilities were enacted in ways that were reproducing expected and unexpected roles in a traditional health care practice. That disrupted the students´ practical and general understandings of professional responsibilities and the nature of professional work including their professional identity formation. The findings from the ethnographic study showed different patterns of how knowledge was shared among professionals in their daily work practice as it unfolded, like chains of actions. The patterns arose through activities where collaboration between professionals was planned be...

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Recognition of the health assistant as a delegated clinical role and their inclusion in models of care: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative evidence

Cited by 40 publications

References 46 publications

Support workers as agents for health behavior change: An Australian study of the perceptions of clients with complex needs, support workers, and care coordinators

Support workers as agents for health behavior change: An Australian study of the perceptions of clients with complex needs, support workers, and care coordinators

Pilot implementation of allied health assistant roles within publicly funded health services in Queensland, Australia: results of a workplace audit

Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care : Education and Practice

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