Allied Health Assistants
Work under the delegation and supervision of allied health professionals to provide therapy and support to individuals and groups, to protect, restore and maintain optimal function, and promote independence and wellbeing in various health, welfare and community settings.
A busy morning in the rehab gym
You are an allied health assistant in a rehabilitation gym, carrying out therapy tasks that your supervising therapists have set for your patients. It is 9am. You have a program sheet for each of your four patients, a group at ten, and the therapists are in clinic or at meetings. Things rarely go in the order on the sheet.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I am not doing the arm exercises today. They are pointless and I am sick of them. Everyone keeps telling me to be patient. Can we do the walking instead?
Ask what feels pointless, offer a short set first, and tell the therapist how he feels
Pat admits he cannot see any progress. You do a short set, and show him last week's notes. His therapist adds a goal he cares about, picking up his grandson's toys.
Agree and do the walking, since he will get more out of it when he actually wants to do it
Pat walks well and cheers up, but the arm program, which his therapist set for a reason, is skipped. You can listen and still stay within the plan you were given.
Tell him firmly that exercises are not optional and begin the set
Pat goes through the motions, silent and angry, and tells his daughter you were bossy. Tough love does not often work with someone who has lost confidence.
Could you set up the kitchen assessment for this afternoon and also copy the home safety handouts? Oh, and I think Mrs Li's frame needs adjusting. Can you sort that too?
Do all of it quickly, including adjusting the frame as you have seen it done before
The frame feels a bit different to Mrs Li, and she nearly stumbles. Equipment changes belong to a trained person who assessed her. Being capable does not make everything your job.
Set up the kitchen and copy the handouts, and ask Neha to check the frame herself
Neha sees the frame is slightly off and fixes it in two minutes. She is glad you did not guess. Knowing the edge of your role keeps patients safe and keeps you trusted.
Say you have too much on and ask her to find someone else for the handouts
Neha is understanding, but the handouts are late for the afternoon session. Telling her what you can do by when would have helped her plan better.
Between you and me, my hip has been aching since Tuesday. Please do not tell Mr Haddad. He will only keep me in longer and I want to go home.
Promise to keep it quiet and let him decide whether he needs to say something later
Walter feels relieved, but you have promised something you cannot keep. When the pain worsens, everyone including Walter wishes the therapist had known sooner.
Say you will tell the therapist, then forget it until the end of your shift
You mean well, but the message reaches Mr Haddad hours later, after Walter has done a full afternoon of exercises. Small delays matter when a patient is in pain.
Tell him gently you must pass it on, explain why, and offer to be with him when you do
Walter grumbles but agrees. The therapist is calm about it and adjusts the program. Being honest that you cannot keep this secret builds more trust than a promise would.
How it went
The morning is over, the sheets are filled in and you have passed three things on. Allied health assistants are the eyes and hands that see patients most, working inside a plan written by someone else. Does being trusted to notice and report, rather than decide, appeal to you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The small thing Ines noticed
A fictional case set in a rehabilitation department at a fictional community hospital.
The situation
Ines, an allied health assistant at a community rehabilitation unit, was running a morning strength group for people recovering from hip surgery. The physiotherapist who wrote the program, Mr Haddad, was in clinic across the building. One participant, Walter, was doing his exercises well and joking with the others. But Ines noticed that he kept shifting his weight and had stopped using his left side as much as the week before.
What they did
Ines did not change Walter's program, because that was not her job. She asked him quietly how his leg felt, and he said it was fine. She wrote down what she had seen and, when the group finished, took it straight to Mr Haddad rather than waiting for the weekly meeting. She described what she saw, not what she thought it meant, and said Walter had denied any pain.
How it turned out
Mr Haddad reviewed Walter that afternoon and adjusted his program. Walter had been downplaying some discomfort so he would not be kept in longer. The unit started asking assistants to note small changes at the end of each session, and Ines was thanked at the team meeting.
What would you do?
- Why did Ines tell the physiotherapist rather than change the program herself?
- How would you ask a patient about pain if they tend to say they are fine?
- What makes a small observation worth interrupting someone's day?