Exploring the importance and use of allied health professions in real-world general practice consultations

This project aims to investigate the role that allied health professionals play in enhancing patient care within general practice settings. Allied health professions, including but not limited to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, podiatry, psychology, social work, and speech pathology, are integral to a holistic approach to healthcare. Literature has indicated that these are often siloed professions, yet person-centred care regularly calls for the use of effective multidisciplinary healthcare teams. Previous research has primarily relied on methodologies that use recall, qualitative, observational, or clinician medical notes to inform findings. While these are appropriate, they are subject to a range of methodological limitations. This project will use Australia's first and only Digital Library to avoid previous research limitations and produce a valuable publication that will contribute to furthering primary care knowledge. The Digital Library, a data repository that houses real-world video-recorded healthcare consultations, will be used for this research. The Digital Library is held at Monash University and is part of the National Centre for Healthy Ageing. The student will use this already collected data to explore the utilization of allied health professionals in general practice consultations. The length of consultations, the types of referrals used, and any discussions about allied health professionals will be analysed. The student will be supported throughout this project by Dr. Kimberley Norman, who is the Digital Library Lead and a Research Fellow at Monash University. By analysing real-world consultations, the project seeks to identify best practices, barriers, and facilitators to effective interdisciplinary collaboration. The findings will provide valuable insights into optimizing the use of allied health professionals in general practice, ultimately contributing to more comprehensive, patient-centred care and better health outcomes for diverse populations.