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Therapy Assistants
Interest in therapy assistant (TA) programs in rural and remote Australia has
increased over the last five years. Rising health care costs, an increasing
demand for allied health services, emphasis on outreach service delivery models
and shortages of allied health professionals have all contributed to the
interest in TA programs.
CUCRH and a number of partner organisations have investigated a range of models
to determine the most effective way to deliver therapy assistant services in
rural and remote Australia.
TA Pilot Project
The Midwest Health Service Integrated Therapy Assistant Pilot Project ran in
1999/2000. A number of therapy assistants were employed to work at small centres
in the Midwest region. Each TA worked across a range of allied health
disciplines, and provided an ‘integrated’ service.
The project was funded by the Commonwealth and evaluated by CUCRH and the
Midwest Health Service. They found that the TAs were a valuable asset and
enhanced the services of visiting allied health professionals.
More information or copies of the report can be obtained from Ivan Lin at CUCRH.
Rural WA Therapy Assistant Project
This project was a joint initiative of CUCRH and the Disabilities Services
Commission (DSC) and took place between 2000 and 2003. It investigated the
current roles and use of TAs in rural WA.
A number of recommendations were made in the areas of practice standards,
training, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation.
You can download a copy of the report in PDF format,
here
(295.25KB).
Midwest & Murchison Health Region Therapy Assistant Project (TAP)
This project ran over 2003 and 2004. CUCRH and the MMr built on the work of
the two previous projects to extend the TA model, and develop benchmarks and
resources for TAs in the Midwest & Murchison region.
Key outcomes of the project included:
- Development of minimum supervision standards and a process for
monitoring supervision practices
- Documentation of designated roles for TAs, therapists and managers
- A Dept of Health TA intranet site
- Standardised JDFs, interview questions and orientation processes for TAs
- Design of official recording forms
- Draft of a WA Country Health Service policy on TAs
There is more information on this project at the MMr website, or you can
download a PDF version of the TAP Report,
here (2.8Mb).
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