Page 196 - Hospital Authority Convention 2018

Corporate Scholarship Presentations
HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2018

C2.5 Rehabilitation and Community Care 13:15 Room 428

Sharing on Overseas Corporate Scholarship Programme in Allied Health Professionals of Palliative Care Service
with Multidisciplinary Approach
Lo JWY
Physiotherapy Department, Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong

Objective and Purpose of the Overseas Training
The two-week training programme of Palliative Care (PC) Service with Multidisciplinary Approach in Australia enabled us
to explore the contribution of allied health in the structure-process-outcome of PC; to explore the best use of the system
infrastructure (including allied health) for provision of quality PC in both PC specialist and non-specialist settings; to scrutinize
care model and pathway assisting interdisciplinary collaboration in end-of-life care; to comprehend community partnership in
supporting patients and carers; and to learn the measurement outcome for PC.

Key Training Activities
10 allied health participants including speech therapist, dietitian, physiotherapists and occupational therapists participated
in a three-day national palliative conference in Adelaide, attended a one-day outcome measure training workshop in Sydney,
toured visits to various public and private PC clinical settings and research centres in these two cities.

Learning Points
The programme provided multidisciplinary approach PC service reference and model for allied health professionals. Allied
health professionals were inspired to be involved in streamlined care model and pathway enhancement in end-of-life care.
High quality PC operation should include conducting daily conference, enhancing referral system, endorsing blanket referrals
for some allied health disciplines, introducing a shared care model of allied health consultation service, providing one-stop
allied health consultative service, adopting multidisciplinary team (MDT) model and developing MDT symptoms management
programmes. Recruiting skill-equipped voluntary groups to provide complementary therapies to patients and carers for
improving quality of life and stress coping is advocated. Empowerment of volunteers to provide general caring to PC patients
can be considered. Community allied health team should be set up to facilitate patient care in home settings. Further
enhancement of PC Day Centres is suggested. Application of Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) in Hong Kong is
recommended for measuring outcomes, building up common communication language, monitoring patient status and carer
stress, formulating care plan and triggering allied health referrals. There are needs to advance and enhance the capacity of
designated allied health professionals through well-structured and advanced training to become PC allied health specialists.
Overseas clinical attachment and e-course can be considered for upcoming advanced trainings. Generic PC training for non-
PC allied health professionals and supporting staff is also indicated.

Tuesday, 8 May 2018

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