Ms Bec Kevill1, Ms Kim Brookes1
1Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group, Nedlands, Australia
Biography:
Bec Kevill has worked as an Occupational Therapist in tertiary hospitals for almost 20 years in a variety of clinical and leadership positions. In 2023-2024 she completed a secondment with the Director of Allied Health, which included a comprehensive review of the existing Allied Health Credentialing Framework. This involved working closely with all Allied Health Heads of Department to revisit scope of practice and advanced practice competencies to establish a consistent and robust credentialing framework across all of Allied Health in the Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group.
Abstract:
Background:
Credentialing is recognised as an essential process to ensure the safety of consumers and the competence of clinicians working in a healthcare setting. At the Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group (SCGOPHCG) in Western Australia, all clinical Allied Health professionals undertake the credentialling process every three years. Since credentialing was first introduced in 2016, inconsistencies between Allied Health professions’ scope of practice, criteria for advanced practice clinical skills and the assessment of competence had appeared.
Method:
The Allied Health Coordinator worked with each Allied Health Head of Department and/or their delegate to re-establish their threshold scope of practice that all professional staff must meet to competently perform their role, as well as critically review their areas of advanced practice skill according to criteria consistent across all professions.
Advanced practice competency frameworks were then individually tailored based on a proforma template, and rigorously reviewed to ensure practical and reasonable assessment process and supporting evidence requirements.
Based on feedback from clinical staff and the Allied Health Credentialing Committee, all credentialling applications, scope of practice forms, advanced practice frameworks and referee reports were redesigned using current hospital branding to improve readability and ease of use, and to convert the process from paper-based to fully electronic.
Findings:
The review and redesign have resulted in a more efficient and robust credentialing framework that is consistent across all Allied Health professions, simple for clinicians to use, and has provided a more streamlined assessment and approval process for the SCGOPHCG Allied Health Credentialling Committee.