Northern Health Allied Health Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

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Northern Health Allied HealthInterdisciplinary
Graduate Program

• Robyn Smith, Sam Pilling,
• Susan Moore Jenni Smith
• Allied Health Service Managers

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Context NH AH Structure

• 200 staff across 4 campuses covering Acute,
  Sub-Acute and Community services.
• Director Allied Health on NH executive
• Allied Health Manager of Research and EBP
• Service wide manager for each of the 6
  disciplines (nutrition, podiatry, physiotherapy,
  occupational therapy, speech pathology and social
  work).
• Site managers or senior clinicians (joint
  clinical and management role)

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Background

• Fourteen new graduates
• Graduate programs common in nursing, not allied
  health
• Support for transition from student to
  professional
• Need to develop an interdisciplinary culture
• Workforce demand issues re. recruitment and
  retention

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Definitions

• Multidisciplinary Team
• The traditional multidisciplinary team allows
  for each discipline to work independently
  contributing discipline specific expertise to
  patient care. Team members work in parallel with
  one another, work independently and there is
  minimal direct interdisciplinary problem solving
• Interdisciplinary Team
• A team that collaborates to solve a shared set
  of problems. Team members maintain discipline
  specific roles but communicate freely with the
  other members. Each member contributes his/her
  specific knowledge to support the input of other
  team members to the shared clinical problem.
• (Hall Weaver, 2001)

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Program Objectives

• Provide an interdisciplinary, AH orientation to
  Northern Health
• Facilitate the transition from student to
  professional
• Develop skills in being part of multi- and
  inter-disciplinary teams
• Develop understanding of core professional
  attributes and knowledge
• Build a commitment to research, evidence based
  practice and the concepts of life long learning
• Develop critical thinking and reflective skills
• Develop skills in managing-up, participating in
  and fostering practice development and change
• Team building and networking across campuses.

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Program Philosophy

• Building team cohesion
• Interactive, participatory sessions
• Opportunity for debriefing and sharing
  experiences
• Minimising silo thinking and professional
  territorialism early! Fostering open
  communication among participants and intermixing.
• Building reflective practitioners
• Sharing the experience of being a newcomer.

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Program Structure

• Twelve x 2 hour sessions
• Fortnightly for first 3, then monthly
• Held end of the day, rotated through the campuses
• Two facilitators for each session
• Follow-up work each session to prompt reflection
• Regular evaluation points and opportunities for
  feedback
• Supervisors sessions at the commencement
• Building support for the program within NH

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Areas covered- session outline

• Getting to know you
• Welcome to NH. Get to know the CEO. Acronym
  exercise
• Transitions and supervision
• Exploring roles, responsibilities and working in
  teams
• Negotiation and communication skills
• Reporting, documentation and data
• Quality and safety
• Critical Reflection EBP
• Review and reflection looking back at the year
• Values, Grief and Loss
• Reporting and teams
• Final session review/ reflection. Graduate
  presentations.

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Challenges of the transition from student
working professional
Having to take full responsibility for patients
Understanding the organisational structure
Decision making
Getting used to being viewed as a professional
rather than as a student
Conveying confidence that I know what Im
talking about

• Learning to trust my clinical skills

Speaking the health language
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Progression over the yeargraduate journey

• When I graduated, I thought of myself as a
  specific professional, but now this has broader
  meaning
• The meaning of allied health hasnt changed,
  but I certainly feel more part of the team and I
  actually work with more areas of the team than
  initially
• It was a good forum to air frustrations and
  raise issues you wouldnt feel comfortable
  talking to your supervisor about
• An area you dont really think about when
  starting work is how youre going to deal with
  the emotional side

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Progression over the yearfacilitator journey

• Theyre so young! - high expectations of their
  expectations and needs
• Not always enough space for the journey we were
  asking them to take
• Our excitement about the program was not always
  matched by the participants!
• Started where we wanted them to be at rather
  than where they were actually at.
• Tricky balance between content and space

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Evaluation - outcomes

• Language grad versus new grad
• Content
• Some duplication in content
• Practical sessions preferred
• Timing
• Could have fitted more into less
• Six month program, rather than 10 months
• Challenge of managing competing demands
• 89 of participants felt the Grad program met
  their expectations and would recommend it to
  others

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Key learnings

• Shorter, more intense program suggested.
• Program provided an invaluable and unique
  opportunity for meeting those from other
  disciplines.
• Difficult to shift dominant silo culture.
• Input from a variety of facilitators was valued
  but some consistency was also important for the
  development of trust in a safe environment.
• Flexibility with content is important to meet the
  needs of the participants.
• Important to balance structured content with open
  space.

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Recommendations

• The program is worthwhile. Take on board feedback
  re. length/timing of program
• Increase supervisor/ organisational support
• Keep the follow-up work/reflections
• Do more work on building the team and focus
  specifically on embedding an understanding of
  interdisciplinary practice.

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Words of advice...

• Treat this as a journey
• Need to cement own identity before stepping into
  anothers
• A sponge can only absorb so much
• The spaces were as valuable as the
  filled-in-bits

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Final words

• This last year has been about getting a grasp on
  my skills and what I can offer and now Im ready
  to expand on these
• Discussing common issues with people has made the
  transition from student to professional less
  daunting
• Now Im not thinking Am I doing things right?,
  Im thinking How can I do things better?