T2P – Transition to Practice – delivery of a graduate programme for allied health professionals working in country WA
Aimee Middis1 1WA Country Health Service, Perth, WA, Australia
Abstract
Transition from student to professional can be challenging especially so if working in a rural setting and the added role of quickly becoming a generalist across many areas. Allied health graduates must be able to adapt and learn quickly to work in new areas, face professional and personal isolation, work within resource constraints and challenging environments, work within multidisciplinary teams with or without profession specific support readily available, rapidly develop proficient time management skills to manage a full patient caseload and decision making and service planning across many different clinical areas. In medical and nursing professions, long standing and established graduate programs exist to support the development of skills to make the transition into professional life yet for allied health there are limited opportunities.
The WA Country Health Service (WACHS) recognised the gap for support for new graduates and in 2013 implemented an Allied Health Transition to Practice (T2P) programme for allied health professionals entering the organisation with less than two years working experience. The program delivered supports to graduates over the vast geography of country WA and the diverse allied health professionals. Over the 10 years of delivery, WACHS has continued to enhance and strengthen the program to its current format.
This presentation will outline how programme content was developed and selected, how the programme is facilitated across whole of country WA, and detail programme components and layers of support. Current format and feedback, evaluation and challenges of the programme to date will also be discussed
Biography
‘Biographies to come’