full conference abstract:
Introduction: BUSHkids is a geographically disbursed organisation across regional and rural areas of Queensland that provides free preventive and early intervention allied health care to children and families who are unable to access services locally. The BUSHkids vision is to see all Queensland children reach their potential regardless of where they live. BUSHkids’ values are child-focused and family-centred, collaborative and accountable.
BUSHkids has developed a training package to provide allied health professionals (AHPs) with an understanding of why delegation is required for safe and effective therapy intervention of BUSHkids clients. The delegation training package:
1. Clearly defines delegation and describes examples of appropriate delegation in healthcare professional teams;
2. Identifies the limits of scope of practice of an allied health assistant (AHA) working at BUSHkids; and
3. Highlights the importance of effective communication for safe delegation.
The AHP delegation training package is delivered in pre-recorded modules for dynamic viewing across the state, with question-and-answer sessions in facilitated sessions with clinical leads. To ensure currency and accuracy of the information delivered in the training package, all clinicians are asked to complete a short questionnaire to ascertain their understanding of delegation to an AHA and similarly when they have completed the training. Our clinicians are also delegating to AHAs who may not reside at the same centre, in which case BUSHkids adapts our model of supervision and monitoring to ensure successful delegation.
Methods: The training package was prepared in conjunction with BUSHkids clinical leads. The pilot of the training package was delivered virtually to both our Early Start Team and Allied Health Teams across the state (approximately 30 clinicians). Qualitative and quantitative measures were captured before and after the training to gauge the effectiveness of the training and to evaluate whether clinicians’ understanding surrounding delegation to AHAs within the context of BUSHkids has increased as a direct result of the training package.
Results and Conclusions: The qualitative measures showed a 25% increase in clinicians’ knowledge in relation to allied health practitioner delegation after having attended the training. The AHP delegation training package is underpinned by BUSHkids’ vision and values, providing AHPs with an evidence-based training package to support safe and effective delegation practices and optimise our AHA workforce.