Breaking Barriers: Enhancing Collaboration Between Speech Pathologists and Allied Health Assistants for Timely Intervention
Tracks
7
Acute care – adult
Adult
Collaboration
Evidence based practice
Quality improvement
Therapy
| Friday, June 13, 2025 |
| 2:55 PM - 3:05 PM |
| Knowledge Hub | Halls MNO, Ground Level |
Overview
Rishni Perara
Details
⏫ Rapid impact
⏲️ 2.55pm - 3.05pm
⌛10-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
⏲️ 2.55pm - 3.05pm
⌛10-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
Presenter
Ms Rishni Perera
Austin Health
Breaking Barriers: Enhancing Collaboration Between Speech Pathologists and Allied Health Assistants for Timely Intervention
2:55 PM - 3:05 PMPresentation summary
This presentation focuses on a quality improvement project aimed at enhancing collaboration between speech pathologists and allied health assistants (AHAs) for timely therapeutic interventions in admitted settings. It covers the project’s objectives, methods, results, and conclusions, offering insights into a new collaborative framework.
Background:
At Austin Health, AHAs are trained to provide therapy for communication and swallowing disorders. It is a mandatory requirement for the AHA to complete the initial intervention session with a speech pathologist. The requirement has been identified as a barrier, particularly in the fast-paced acute care environment. The time constraints faced by speech pathologists often lead to de-prioritisation of these joint sessions, preventing timely intervention by AHAs.
Objective:
The project aimed to create a framework enabling AHAs to assess their support needs before sessions, increasing their autonomy and ensuring timely patient care.
Methods:
A team of speech pathologists and AHAs developed a decision-making framework to help AHAs determine when additional support was necessary for the first session. A pilot trial was conducted, and data was collected from delegation records and group discussions.
Results: The pilot results showed a marked reduction, with only 17% (5/30) of the delegations requiring a joint session compared to 100% in the baseline data. AHAs demonstrated consistent accuracy in applying the framework, as confirmed through collaborative agreement. Group discussions revealed reduced workload for speech pathologists, increased patient access to therapy sessions, timely delegation of AHA interventions, increased AHA interventions, and commencement of early rehabilitation.
Conclusion: This quality improvement initiative identified and addressed key barriers to collaboration between speech pathologists and AHAs. The implementation of a decision-making framework enhanced AHA autonomy, optimised the use of AHA skills, reduced speech pathology burden, and improved patient access to timely interventions in a resource-limited inpatient setting.
Background:
At Austin Health, AHAs are trained to provide therapy for communication and swallowing disorders. It is a mandatory requirement for the AHA to complete the initial intervention session with a speech pathologist. The requirement has been identified as a barrier, particularly in the fast-paced acute care environment. The time constraints faced by speech pathologists often lead to de-prioritisation of these joint sessions, preventing timely intervention by AHAs.
Objective:
The project aimed to create a framework enabling AHAs to assess their support needs before sessions, increasing their autonomy and ensuring timely patient care.
Methods:
A team of speech pathologists and AHAs developed a decision-making framework to help AHAs determine when additional support was necessary for the first session. A pilot trial was conducted, and data was collected from delegation records and group discussions.
Results: The pilot results showed a marked reduction, with only 17% (5/30) of the delegations requiring a joint session compared to 100% in the baseline data. AHAs demonstrated consistent accuracy in applying the framework, as confirmed through collaborative agreement. Group discussions revealed reduced workload for speech pathologists, increased patient access to therapy sessions, timely delegation of AHA interventions, increased AHA interventions, and commencement of early rehabilitation.
Conclusion: This quality improvement initiative identified and addressed key barriers to collaboration between speech pathologists and AHAs. The implementation of a decision-making framework enhanced AHA autonomy, optimised the use of AHA skills, reduced speech pathology burden, and improved patient access to timely interventions in a resource-limited inpatient setting.
Refrences
Snowdon, D. A., Storr, B., Davis, A., Taylor, N. F., & Williams, C. M. (2020). The effect of delegation of therapy to allied health assistants on patient and organisational outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Health Services Research, 20, 1-16.
Munn, Z., Tufanaru, C., & Aromataris, E. (2013). 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. JBI Evidence Implementation, 11(1), 3-19.
Department of Health. Supervision and delegation framework for allied health assistants [internet]. Melbourne: State Government of Victoria; 2012. Available from: https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/publications/policiesandguidelines/Supervision-and-delegation-framework-for-allied-health-assistants
Snowdon, D. A., King, O. A., Dennett, A., Pinson, J. A., Shannon, M. M., Collyer, T. A., ... & Williams, C. M. (2022). Delegation of patient related tasks to allied health assistants: a time motion study. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), 1280.
Munn, Z., Tufanaru, C., & Aromataris, E. (2013). 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. JBI Evidence Implementation, 11(1), 3-19.
Department of Health. Supervision and delegation framework for allied health assistants [internet]. Melbourne: State Government of Victoria; 2012. Available from: https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/publications/policiesandguidelines/Supervision-and-delegation-framework-for-allied-health-assistants
Snowdon, D. A., King, O. A., Dennett, A., Pinson, J. A., Shannon, M. M., Collyer, T. A., ... & Williams, C. M. (2022). Delegation of patient related tasks to allied health assistants: a time motion study. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), 1280.
**********
Rishni Perera is an experienced clinician specializing in the management of swallowing disorders and rehabilitation. With a strong focus on clinical research and quality improvement, she is dedicated to advancing evidence-based practices in her field. Rishni is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Queensland, where her research is focused on investigating the impact of frailty and sarcopenia on dysphagia.
The information contained in this program is current at of the time of publishing but is subject to changes made without notice.
Disclaimer: © (2024) The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. All rights reserved.
Important Notice, please read: The views expressed in this presentation and reproduced in these materials are not necessarily the views of, or endorsed by, The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited ("the Association"). The Association makes no warranty or representation in relation to the content, currency or accuracy of any of the materials comprised in this presentation. The Association expressly disclaims any and all liability (including liability for negligence) in respect of use of these materials and the information contained within them. The Association recommends you seek independent professional advice prior to making any decision involving matters outlined in this presentation including in any of the materials referred to or otherwise incorporated into this presentation.
.
