Transcript No Slide Title

Translating the Evidence: An Allied Health Hub in CareSearch
Rawlings D and Tieman JJ
Palliative & Supportive Services, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia
Introduction
Community palliative care can be complex with
different disciplines contributing individually, or
as part of a multidisciplinary team, to meet the
needs of an individual patient.
CareSearch has developed ‘hubs’ of
information and resources that consolidate the
knowledge base and practice issues¹ for
specific professional groups. Here we describe
the development of a Hub that recognises the
integral role Allied Health plays in palliative
care.
Methods
The CareSearch National Advisory Group
(NAG) endorsed the development of an Allied
Health Hub (AHH) in April 2012.
The Allied Health Palliative Care Australia SIG
met for the first time at the 2011 PCA
Conference. Representatives from this group
and the NAG representative from Allied Health
Professions Australia completed a scoping
activity in regards to the development of the
AHH. A core element of the scoping was
determining which professions would be
included.
This process resulted in six professions being
proposed for inclusion in the AHH: Dietitians,
Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists,
Psychologists, Social Workers and Speech
Pathologists.
Representatives from these six professions
were then invited to form an Advisory Group.
Their role was to support the page author in
developing content (including webpages,
resources and links) and to assist with the
design, organisation and promotion of the Hub.
These representatives were from the initial SIG
or were elicited through their peak body.
Knowledge Translation
Knowledge Translation is the translation of
valid and relevant science into routine clinical
practice². There are strategies that can be
employed to address this via active processes
of translation² and include:
Change Leaders / Champions
The use of allied health professionals with an
interest in palliative care as champions has
helped to promote interest and engagement
such as via existing special interest groups.
The Advisory Group members have also
fulfilled this role via advocacy, networking and
promotion.
Recognising Local Contexts
Knowledge that is contextualised and relevant
to the intended user is more likely to be
accessed and used. The Hub provides
palliative care information that is designed for
allied health professionals.
Reminders
A monthly electronic ‘Project News’ has been
disseminated since Dec 2012. There are
almost 400 people registered to receive it.
Education
Information has been provided in the project
news not only to inform about CareSearch but
also to highlight any relevant developments in
the sector or in the hub.
End User Engagement
Each page has been reviewed by allied health
professionals working in the field. These
reviewers are representative of end users and
have helped to ensure that the content is
current and useful
Palliative care aims to provide holistic care
that meets the needs of each individual patient
and their family. Interdisciplinary palliative care
teams comprising allied health personnel in
addition to medical and nursing staff are seen
as an essential component of comprehensive
quality palliative care for all3. Allied health
professionals can work with patients and
carers from diagnosis to bereavement, train
and support other team members, and assist
in planning and providing care.
Results
The Hub comprises a targeted set of palliative
care information to support allied health
professionals. There has been increasing
interest in the Hub, with substantial feedback
on proposed content and resources from the
sector. The Allied Health Hub will be launched
at the Palliative Care Australia Conference in
2013.
Project News to Newsletter
Since December 2012 CareSearch has
produced the ‘Project News’ update to elicit
interest, feedback, ideas and contributions
from the field about the development of the
hub. This will become a bi-monthly newsletter
following the launch of
the hub, with the advisory
group again informing
and leading content
development.
Conclusion
The Allied Health Hub recognises the role and
involvement of Dietetics, Occupational
Therapy, Physiotherapy, Psychology, Speech
Pathology and Social Work to palliative care
provision in Australia. The Allied Health Hub
promotes their professional presence within
palliative care, enabled through the vital
support of peak bodies and the advocacy of
champions.
Both the commonality
and variability of practice
(eg, practice settings or
private providers) within
disciplines provided
challenges when looking
to content development.
The Advisory Group initially reviewed the
information within the existing hubs and its
relevance to allied health. This has meant that
some hub information could be made available
by linking elsewhere in the website. Other
pages have been developed in response to
clearly identified needs which were not covered
elsewhere on the website.
Allied Health-Palliative Care
References:
Contacts
The CareSearch website is freely available at:
www.caresearch.com.au
Those wishing to find out more can contact
Deb Rawlings by emailing
[email protected]
¹Tieman JJ (2012) Filters and hubs: shortening the distance to
palliative care evidence. Australian Journal of Primary Health,
2012, 18, 268–273
²Scott I and Glasziou P (2012) Improving effectiveness of
clinical medicine: the need for better translation of science into
practice MJA 197 (7) : 374-378
3PCA 2003 Palliative Care Service Provision in Australia: A
Planning Guide Canberra