Impacts of the Early COVID-19 Response on Allied Health Staff Within an Australian Tertiary Health Service: A Qualitative Study

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographics of Clinician Participants

Clinician Participants (N=19)	N (%)
Gender
Male	2 (10.5)
Female	17 (89.5)
Work history	Mean (range)
Years clinical experience	10.6 (2–36)
Years employed in Health Service	5.1 (<1-19)
Years in current position	3.0 (<1-10)
Employment level
Junior	8 (42.1)
Senior	9 (47.4)
Advanced	2 (10.5)
Discipline
Dietetics	8 (42.1)
Occupational therapy	1 (5.3)
Physiotherapy	2 (10.5)
Psychology	1 (5.3)
Social work	3 (15.8)
Speech pathology	4 (21.0)
Patient population^a
Inpatient	10 (43.5)
Outpatient	10 (43.5)
Other^b	3 (13.0)
Clinical Area^a
Mixed case load	7 (36.8)
Oncology	3 (15.8)
Pediatrics/neonatal	3 (15.8)
Other^c	6 (31.6)

Notes: ^aSum exceeds participants with some working across multiple areas. ^bCommunity setting or clinical educator position with students. ^cOne each in ear nose throat, urogynaecology, orthopaedic surgery, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, and palliative care.

Table 2 Changes to AH Professional Roles and Service Provision During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic Response

Change	Description
Remote service delivery	Outpatient consultations offered by telehealth Inpatients managed without face-to-face contact (eg, clinicians contacting patients on personal mobile or patient room telephone)
New COVID-19 protocols	Use of personal protective equipment Altered positioning to conduct assessments or cessation of assessments with high transmission risk (eg, cough reflex testing in speech pathology) Remote patient assessment and management Visitor restrictions (Particularly impacting patients and family members in palliative care and neonatal intensive care units)
Service cessation	Outpatient services ceased Budget cuts to accommodate COVID-19 response needs (eg, Health service cars no longer available for home care visits)
Alteration of role and/or work location	Reassignment to areas of need (eg, physiotherapists redeployed to intensive care unit) Project/research work (eg, telehealth trial projects) New work locations (eg working from home, wards/services moved to alternative health service sites to open COVID-19 wards, use of lap tops for home visits)

Figure 1 Themes generated from participant interviews.