STARS Interprofessional Clinical Assistant (IPCA) Model of Care Implementation
Tamsin Mahoney1 1Surgical, Treatment And Rehabilitation Services (stars), Herston, Queensland, Australia
Abstract
Background
Delegation to an Allied Health Assistant (AHA) is the process by which a Health Practitioner (HP) hands responsibility for clinical activities to an AHA who has appropriate education, knowledge and skills to perform safely and competently.
Feedback from our AHA focus group, identified overlap in tasks delegated across disciplines. STARS committed to implementation of an inter-professional (IP) approach to patient care for both our HP and AHA workforce.
Method
STARS commenced implementation of the IPCA model of care (MoC) in 2022 with IPCA’s working across disciplines. This involved converting discipline specific AHA roles into IPCA roles, moving IPCA’s under one team, identifying IP tasks and processes for scheduling and prioritisation.
Results
Evaluation of the MoC demonstrated an increase in IPCA occasions of service from zero to 72 (39.34%) per month. We’ve converted 6 (55%) discipline specific AHA roles into IPCA roles.
A survey of IPCAs revealed 7/8 IPCA’s score their job satisfaction as >7 out of 10, where 10 = very satisfied. The following benefits of the IP role were identified:
-Promotes IP communication and collaboration
-Multiple goals addressed in one session
-Holistic approach to care
-Avoids unnecessary duplication
Time taken to train across disciplines and communication, scheduling and prioritisation across disciplines, were identified as challenges.
Discussion
This IPCA MoC review demonstrated a number of benefits to STARS workforce, consumers and service efficiency. It’s also identified opportunities for enhancement which are being addressed to leverage off established benefits to STARS workforce, consumers and service efficiency.
Biography
Tamsin Mahoney is the Occupational Therapy Director at STARS, Queensland. Tamsin has worked across a number of tertiary hospital facilities throughout Queensland and holds the Clinical Assistant portfolio for STARS. Tamsin has a strong interest in both interprofessional practice and delegation practices that support patient outcomes and experiences.