Understanding workforce needs of allied health staff in regional cancer care centres: Informing recruitment and succession planning.

Objective: To describe: (1) the type and frequency of interventions undertaken by regional cancer specialist Allied Health Professionals (AHPs); and (2) regional generalist AHPs' exposure and confidence in undertaking these interventions. Design: Multiphase, observational study including a prospecti...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Australian Journal of Rural Health Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 114 - 124
Autores principales: Waters, Martine, de Jersey, Susan, Brebner, Neil, Reeves, Marina Michelle
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Feb2023
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Objective: To describe: (1) the type and frequency of interventions undertaken by regional cancer specialist Allied Health Professionals (AHPs); and (2) regional generalist AHPs' exposure and confidence in undertaking these interventions. Design: Multiphase, observational study including a prospective study and a cross‐sectional survey. Setting: Two regional Queensland Hospitals. Participants: Cancer specialist AHPs (n = 13 in a prospective study; n = 7 in a cross‐sectional survey) and generalist AHPs (n = 36 in a cross‐sectional survey), across six disciplines from two regional hospitals and cancer services. Main Outcome Measures: Phase 1: Frequency of cancer care AHP occasions of service and interventions. Phase 2: Current practice in cancer care AHP interventions; confidence; access to training, professional development and mentorship; barriers to working in cancer care, among cancer care and generalist AHPs. Results: Over 10‐months, cancer care AHPs collectively delivered 12 393 interventions across 8850 occasions of service. Only four cancer care interventions were exclusively or predominantly carried out by cancer care AHPs—laryngectomy pre‐operative counselling, laryngectomy rehabilitation and tracheostomy management (speech pathology) and lymphoedema management (physiotherapy). Generalist AHPs reported slightly lower confidence across all tasks if asked to carry out known interventions in a cancer setting compared with familiar settings. The primary perceived barrier to working in cancer care was lack of skills/experience/training reported by most CC AHPs, generalist Physiotherapists and Speech Pathologists, but not other generalist AHPs. Conclusion: There was a significant overlap in interventions undertaken in the cancer care and generalist setting for AHPs. Appropriate on‐boarding to contextualise interventions to cancer care is recommended to overcome reported lower confidence.