Ms Elizabeth Pearson1,2, Ms Aruska D'Souza3, Ms Katie O'Brien4, A/Prof Alicia Martin1,2, Ms Kath Feely1,2,3,5
1Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Parkville, Australia, 2University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia, 3The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 4Monash University, Clayton, Australia, 5The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Australia
Biography:
A/Prof Alicia Martin is an experienced Director of Allied Health.
She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Graduate Certificate of Management from the Australian Institute of Management. Alicia also holds a Masters of Physiotherapy (Cardiorespiratory) from Melbourne University and a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from La Trobe University.
Alicia has worked in numerous roles, including a secondment as Chief Allied Health Officer, Victoria.
She is passionate about holistic patient care delivery, particularly secondary prevention. She also has an interest in patient outcomes, digital health and innovative approaches to service delivery.
Abstract:
Introduction:
Digital health capability of the Allied Health workforce is largely unknown. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the digital health capability of Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) using a modified version of Domain Three questions from the Victorian Allied Health Digital Health Self-Evaluation Tool (VAHD-SET).
Method:
AHPs employed at three public health services in Parkville were invited to self-evaluate their capabilities in the “Data and Informatics” domain of the Victorian Allied Health Digital Capability Framework. This domain has four subdomains: data concepts, data integrity, analytics, and knowledge creation. We used a modified VAHD-SET 10-question online survey. Participants rated capabilities across four levels: “Foundation”, “Consolidation”, “Expert”, or “Leader”. Data was analysed using SPSS.
Outcome:
A total of 347 AHPs completed the survey. Most participants were aged between 20 and 40 years (n = 347, 63%), female (n = 293, 84%) and had worked in their profession a median of 9 [5 – 19] years. The majority evaluated themselves across 10 capabilities, totalling 2956 results: “Foundation” (n=1302, 43%) or “Consolidation” (n = 1323, 44%) with fewer rating themselves “Expert” (n = 331, 11%) or “Leader” (n = 64, 2%). Participants identified their areas of greatest development need were “data analytics and tools” (n = 216, 72%) and “Digital tools for healthcare” (n = 213, 71%). In-person group training was their preferred method of learning identified.
Conclusions:
This study identified key knowledge gaps in allied health data and informatics capabilities, providing us the opportunity to develop targeted education programs to upskill the workforce.