Ms Melissa Roberts1, Dr Abby Foster1,2,3, Mrs Lucy Whelan1
1Monash Health, Australia, 2Monash University, Australia, 3La Trobe University, Australia
Biography:
Melissa currently works as the Allied Health Workforce Advisor for the Monash at Home Program at Monash Health. With a background as a senior clinician physiotherapist, she has been involved in numerous quality improvement and research projects. Melissa is particularly passionate about implementation science and advancing workforce strategy and development, aiming to drive innovation and excellence in healthcare delivery.
Abstract:
Background:
Monash at Home is a bed-substitution model catering to patients across rehabilitation, gerontology, and acute care. The absence of a clear system for identifying patients’ clinical stream upon admission was noted. It was found there were limited guidelines to assist in decision-making for patients with diverse clinical needs across different streams. A streaming initiative was developed to: (a)enhance timeliness of allied health (AH) intervention; (b)improve AH quantity received by patients; and (c)standardise AH practice and model of care.
Method:
A pre-post comparison design was used. A streaming tool and guidelines for AH were integrated into the program. FIM efficiency, average length of stay (ALOS), timeliness and amount of AH input were evaluated for three-months prior to and post streaming implementation. Consumer feedback was sought to understand thoughts and feelings regarding the amount of AH intervention received via Likert scale.
Results:
Evaluation found improvements in program mean FIM efficiency score (0.57 to 0.64), minor reduction in mean ALOS, and an overall improvement in timeliness and mean amount of AH input (53% increase in physiotherapy intervention) for rehabilitation patients post the introduction of streaming. Following implementation, 85% of consumers surveyed reported the amount of AH input received was “just right”.
Discussion:
The initiative demonstrates that streaming patients within bed-substitution models can enhance the timeliness and amount of AH input for rehabilitation in “at home” programs and may positively impact ALOS and FIM efficiency. Future studies should explore scalability and the ability of such models to support patients with higher AH needs.