Mrs Dianne Littlechild1, Mr Robert Barnard1, Ms Kerri Frahn1
1SA Health – CALHN, Adelaide, Australia
Biography:
Since 1995, Dianne has served as an Exercise Physiologist with the Centre for Physical Activity in Ageing in Adelaide, South Australia. She brings a wealth of experience in exercise rehabilitation for chronic conditions, with a particular focus on cardiac rehabilitation and chronic heart failure, including advanced heart failure, since 2007.
In her role, Dianne has played a crucial part in developing resources and training other exercise physiologists.
In 2024, she assumed the position of Chair of the Exercise Physiology Advisory Group, where she is passionately committed to advancing the Exercise Physiology profession within SA Health.
Abstract:
Exercise Physiology (EP) has been a concept for over a century, but as a profession within SA Health, it remains relatively young. Due to a low number of EPs and their scarce presence in leadership roles, the profession's direction has often been influenced by other fields. This project aimed to gauge the current perspectives of EPs within SA Health and identify priorities for the Exercise Physiology Advisory Group (EPAG) to address over the next five years.
The project began with SWOT analyses conducted in each local health network to uncover key themes. Eighteen themes emerged and were refined through two rounds of the Delphi Method, incorporating a novel confidence scale for each priority. Participation was high, with 94% of EPs in SA Health joining the first Delphi round and 100% completing the second round.
Consensus was defined as ≥ 70% of respondents rating a priority ≥ 8/10. Consensus was reached on 11 of the 18 priorities, with top ratings in areas such as career progression, staffing, and professional status. However, EPs showed low confidence in the feasibility of achieving these changes within five years.
Many of these priorities could only be addressed at a higher level, however an interactive face-to-face workshop was held where 24 out of a possible 33 EPs contributed ideas to selected priorities through the Mural App. This session aimed to generate actionable suggestions for positive outcomes. EPAG has since developed a five-year plan, with all targets for the first year already accomplished.