full conference abstract:
Introduction: Collaborative practice models of health care are required to best meet the complex needs of contemporary patients and clients1, particularly those in rural and remote settings. Allied health professionals are integral to collaborative practice in healthcare settings and come from diverse origins, work in many groupings and have relatively flat hierarchical structures, as distinct to medicine and nursing2,3. These unique characteristics of allied health professionals highlight the importance of deeply and richly understanding the notion of allied health collaborative practice capability4,5.
Methods: This qualitative research was informed by philosophical hermeneutics, which helps deepen understandings of social phenomena6. We explored perceptions of allied health academics and students from two Australian universities in relation to developing capabilities key for allied health collaborative healthcare practice. This research was conducted with ethical approval from the Charles Sturt University Ethics in Human Research Committee (protocol number 2014/219). This approval covered ethics approval for the second university.
Findings & Discussion: This research explores the nature of allied health collaborative practice capability, illuminating a plurality and coalescence of underpinning capabilities interpreted from literature and experiential studies7. Findings highlighted nine key capabilities located in contextual, social and individual domains. Contextual capabilities comprise adaptability, responsiveness and persistence; social capabilities include friendliness, openness and reciprocity; and professional expertise, willingness and flexibility are integral individual capabilities. These capabilities are drawn on discretely or concurrently, depending on the situation at hand, and are particularly important in navigating the challenges and complexities of rural and remote healthcare settings.
Conclusion: This research invites reflection on: collaborative practice capability; how allied health professionals draw on capabilities for collaborative practice; and how a more nuanced understanding of the plurality and coalescence of collaborative practice capability may inform healthcare practice and education.