Mrs Simone Munro1, Ms Dinah Humpries1, Mrs Lauren Growse1, Ms Olivia Cameron1, Mrs Heather Davey1
1Monash Health, Cheltenham, Australia
Biography:
Simone Munro, a speech pathologist by background, is an experienced ‘people person’. With a decade and a half of experience in public health services she brings strong change management and improvement science skills to her role as Allied Health Workforce Advisor at Victoria’s largest public health provider Monash Health. In this role she delivers large scale programs of change for over 1,900 Allied Health clinicians to ensure an Allied Health workforce ready for the future and now.
Abstract:
There is no formal certification or qualification in Australia to support the credentialing and professional identity of child life therapists (CLT). The impact is twofold: 1) there is no formal workforce pipeline within this crucial professional group in children's care and 2) the scope of practice can be undefined. Recognizing this gap and impact on workforce supply, Monash Children’s Hospital collaborated with partners to build interactive modules based on best practice education principles that met professional scope of practice standards as defined by the Association of Child Life Therapists Australia.
Collaboration between workforce scope of practice experts, educational design teams, and child life therapy professionals across two tertiary children's hospitals in Victoria led to the development of 9 clinical education modules. The modules feature a blended learning approach where adult learning theory and educational principles were applied by tailoring content to real-world relevance and incorporating interactive activities to enhance engagement in learning.
Evaluation of the modules was undertaken using education design principles review, user experience and impact on new workforce pipelines. Refinement and improvement cycles were undertaken based on evaluation results. Early analysis suggested reduced onboarding time, reduced workforce load on existing staff and improved understanding of the role and scope of the child life therapist in the hospital setting.