Associate Degree of Allied Health inherent requirements

Inherent requirement statements
• Behavioural stability is required to function and adapt effectively and sensitively in a program of study in allied health.
• Student demonstrates behavioural stability to work constructively in diverse and changing academic and clinical environments, which may at times be challenging and unpredictable.

Justification of inherent requirement:
Behavioural stability is required to work individually and in teams in diverse and changing environments. Client care environments can present complex and unpredictable human situations which students might find are taxing and confronting and will be required to have behavioural stability to manage these events.

Adjustments must support stable, effective and professional behaviour in both academic and clinical environments. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Reflecting on practice and responding appropriately to constructive feedback
• Coping with own emotions and behaviour effectively when dealing with individuals in the clinical environment
• Works effectively in the face of uncertainty and time pressure and adapts to changing environments with focus and composure

Students within this program must be able to think critically to analyse, synthesise and evaluate complex oral, written and visual information. These analyses are used to solve problems, provide evidence for clinical reasoning and enable the provision of timely, relevant interventions.

Inherent requirement statements
• Consistent knowledge and effective cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide safe and effective allied health practice.

Students must demonstrate:
• Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information
• Ability to process information relevant to practice
• Ability to integrate and implement knowledge into practice in a timely manner

Justification of inherent requirement:
Safe and effective delivery of patient management is based on comprehensive knowledge that must be sourced, understood and applied appropriately

Adjustments must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items
• Ensuring patient safety and effective healthcare provision by appropriately applying knowledge of theory, research evidence, policies and procedures in the clinical environment

Inherent requirement statements
• Effective non-verbal communication is fundamental to provide safe and effective care in allied health and needs to be respectful, clear, attentive, empathetic and non-judgmental.
• Students must demonstrate:

• Capacity to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to behavioural cues
• Consistent and appropriate awareness of own behaviours
• Sensitivity to individual and/or cultural differences

Justification of this inherent requirement:
• The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues assists with building rapport with people and gaining their trust and respect in academic and professional relationships
• Displaying consistent and appropriate facial expressions, eye contact, being mindful of space, time boundaries and body movements and gestures promotes trust in academic and professional relationships
• Being sensitive to individual and/or cultural differences, displays respect and empathy to others and develops trusting relationships
• The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues is essential for safe and effective observation of patient symptoms and reactions to facilitate the assessment and treatment of patients

Adjustments must enable the recognition, initiation of or appropriate response to effective non-verbal communication in a timely and appropriate manner. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Recognising and responding appropriately to cues and activities in classroom situations
• Recognising and responding appropriately to cues in the clinical environment, e.g. identifying that a patient is in pain from their body posture of facial expression
• Recognise and adjust to differing touch preferences of patients
• Respects personal and professional boundaries

Inherent requirement statements
Effective verbal communication, in English, is an essential requirement to provide safe delivery of care and to communicate with university staff.
Students must demonstrate:
• Comprehension of spoken English at a conversational speed
• Sensitivity to individual and/or cultural and linguistic differences
• Ability to understand and respond to verbal communication accurately, appropriately and in a timely manner
• Ability to provide clear instructions in the context of the situation
• Timely, clear feedback and reporting

Justification of inherent requirement:
• Communicating in a way that displays respect and empathy to others develops trusting relationships
• Communication may be restricted to verbal because of limitations of the individual (e.g. injury, disease or congenital conditions)
• Speed and interactivity of communication may be critical for individual safety or treatment
• Timely, accurate and effective delivery of instructions is critical to individual safety, treatment and management
• Interactive verbal communication is necessary to ensure effective assessment of symptoms to facilitate appropriate management
• Understanding verbal communication participates and responds appropriately to requests from supervisors and other health professionals in tutorials, simulation and clinical discussion.

Adjustments must meet the necessary standards of functional effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy to ensure safe and appropriate care. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Understand and respond to verbal instructions, feedback and reporting relevant to the context of the situation.
• Establishing rapport, through verbal communication, with clients
• Present information more formally to, and engage in developing discussions with, a wider audience, including clinical presentations

Inherent requirement statements
• Allied health is governed by a code of conduct, standards, guidelines and policies, in which allied health assistants are both accountable and responsible for ensuring safe and professional behaviour in all contexts.
• Student demonstrates knowledge of and engage in ethical behaviour in practice

Justification of Inherent requirement
Compliance with standards, codes, guidelines and policies that facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and the people they engage with in the many environments of practice is required for the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of all.
Adjustments must ensure the codes and standards are not compromised or result in unethical behaviour. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Comply with academic and non-academic conduct codes and policies and professional standards
• Identify and enact relevant applications of these codes and standards, including those relating to plagiarism, informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and equitable and respectful behaviour in academic and clinical settings
• Be aware of the professional role of the allied health assistant as a team member working under medical supervision

Inherent requirement statements
• Allied health practice is mandated by legislation to enable the safe delivery of care.
• Student demonstrates knowledge and compliance with Australian Law, professional regulation and scope of practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:
• Knowledge, understanding and compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements and standards are necessary pre-requisites to clinical placements, to reduce the risk of harm to self and others
• Compliance with these professional regulations and the Australian Law ensures that students are both responsible and accountable for their practice
Adjustments must be consistent with legislative and regulatory requirements. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Complying with the policies of clinical facilities e.g. Work Health and Safety Act and uniform requirements
• Complying with relevant legislation including child protection and safety, and anti-discrimination legislation

Inherent requirement statements
Competent literacy skills are essential to provide safe and effective allied health practice.

Student demonstrates:
• Ability to acquire information and accurately convey appropriate, effective messages
• Ability to read and comprehend a range of literature and information
• Capacity to understand and implement academic conventions to construct written text in a scholarly manner

Justification of inherent requirement:
• The ability to acquire information and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safe and effective assessment, treatment and delivery of care
• The ability to read, decode, interpret and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective delivery of care

Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply and communicate accurate information. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Conveying spoken instructions accurately and effectively in a clinical setting
• Paraphrasing, summarising and referencing in accordance with appropriate academic conventions in written assignments
• Producing accurate, concise and clear patient medical records and written communication with other healthcare providers which meet legal requirements

Inherent requirement statements
• Competent and accurate numeracy skills are essential for safe and effective allied health practice.
• Student demonstrates the ability to interpret and correctly apply data, measurements and numerical criteria.

Justification of inherent requirement:
Competent application of numeracy skills is essential in physiotherapy to facilitate the safe and effective delivery of physiotherapy care

Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to interpret and apply concepts and processes appropriately in a timely, accurate and effective manner. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Calculate a patient's fluid balance status from observation records
• Accurately read and interpret blood test results
• Accurately recording measurements in patient notes

Inherent requirement statements
• Adequate auditory ability is required for safe and effective allied health practice.
• Student demonstrates sufficient aural function to undertake the required range of tasks.

Justification of inherent requirement:
• Sufficient auditory ability is necessary to monitor, assess and manage an individual's health needs consistently and accurately
• Auditory assessments and observations are fundamental to safe and effective allied health practice

Adjustments must address the need to perform the range of tasks involved in clinical practice. Any strategies to address the effects of the hearing loss must be effective, consistent and not compromise treatment of safety. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Detect and discriminate changes in pain or breathing sounds
• Detect and discriminate heart sounds
• Detecting care requests by calls for help or activation of a call bell
• Understands and responds appropriately when presented with verbal comments or feedback

Inherent requirement statements
• Sufficient tactile ability is required to perform competent and safe allied health practice.
• Student demonstrates sufficient tactile function to undertake the required range of skills and assessments.

Justification of inherent requirement:
• Sufficient tactile ability is necessary to monitor, assess and detect patients' physical characteristics and act on any abnormalities detected to provide appropriate allied health practice
• Tactile assessments and observations are fundamental to safe and effective allied health practice

Adjustments must have the capacity to make effective assessments of physical characteristics and abnormalities within safe time frames. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Detect changes in circulation e.g. temperature of extremities, palpable pulses
• Feel for abdominal masses, rectal and vaginal tumours, palpable veins, bone deformity
• Apply appropriate pressure when cannulating a vein, inserting a lumbar puncture needle, re-position a bone
• Provide patient care through appropriate and reassuring touch

Inherent requirement statements
• Adequate visual acuity is required for safe and effective allied health practice.
• Student demonstrates sufficient visual acuity to perform the required range of tasks.

Justification of inherent requirement:
• Sufficient visual acuity is necessary to demonstrate the required range of skills, tasks and assessments to maintain consistent, accurate and safe care of self and to others
• Visual observations, examinations and assessment are fundamental to safe and effective allied health practice

Adjustments must address the need to perform the full range of tasks involved in clinical practice. Any strategies to address the effects of the vision impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise treatment or safety. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Observing and detecting subtle changes in posture, movement and the ability to perform functional activities during assessment and treatment
• Understands learning materials delivered in a visual format.
• Actively participates in group work

Inherent requirement statements
• Allied Health Assistance is a profession that requires manual dexterity and fine motor skills.
• Student demonstrates ability to use fine motor skills to undertake required learning and safely function within scope of practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:
Sufficient fine motor skills are necessary to perform the required level of care. Tasks that involve fine motor skills include being able to grasp, press, push, turn, squeeze and manipulate various objects and individuals. Students must be able to demonstrate and perform these tasks consistently and safely to reduce the risk of harm to self and others

Adjustments must facilitate functional effectiveness, safety to self and others and a capacity to provide appropriate care. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Prepare and perform assessment and treatment techniques e.g. ultrasound of abdomen, inserting a chest drain, testing paediatric reflexes, fine needle biopsy, cannulating a vein
• Contribute to both handwritten and electronic medical records

Inherent requirement statements
• Allied Health Assistance is a profession that involves physical demands and requires gross motor function.
• Student demonstrates the ability to perform gross motor skills to function within the scope of practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:
• Sufficient gross motor skills are necessary to perform the required level of care. Tasks that involve gross motor skills include lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, standing, twisting and bending. Students must be able to demonstrate and perform these tasks consistently and safely to reduce the risk of harm to self and others
• Ability to appropriately position, self, equipment and patient so as to perform tasks reliably with a range of movement is required to reduce risk of harm to self and others

Adjustments must facilitate functional effectiveness, safety of self and others and a capacity to provided appropriate care. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Maintaining own and patient’s balance, while providing patient support, when transferring and mobilising individuals in a safe manner
• Safely adapt the position of self and clients of varying physical capacity, when positioning on plinths and hospital beds, mats on the floor, on chairs and when standing
• Access around bedside equipment, across and patients, across sterile areas without contaminating surfaces

Inherent requirement statements
• Allied health practice requires both physical and mental performance at a consistent and sustained level to meet individual needs over time.
• Student demonstrates:
o Consistent and sustained level of physical energy to complete a specific task in a timely manner and over time
o The ability to perform repetitive activities with a level of concentration that ensures a capacity to focus on the activity until it is completed appropriately
o The capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of time

Justification of inherent requirement:
Sufficient physical and mental endurance is an essential requirement needed to perform multiple tasks in an assigned period to provide safe and effective care

Adjustments must ensure that performance is consistent and sustained over a given period. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Sustain study practices and clinical performance to sufficiently engage with the learning workload for a study period, and for the degree, within a constrained timeframe
• Sustain a working posture, associated manual tasks, cognitive engagement, performance level and emotional control for the full duration of a patient care process e.g. lumbar puncture on a child; initial assessment of a multiple-trauma burn patient; successive and extended patient assessments with minimal breaks
• Sustain performance for durations that are manageable within overall shift-planning for patient care

Inherent requirement statements
• Effective written communication, in English, is fundamental to providing patient care.
• Students must demonstrate the capacity to construct coherent written communication appropriate to the circumstances.

Justification of this inherent requirement:
• Construction of written text-based assessment tasks to reflect the required academic standards are necessary to convey knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter for professional practice
• Accurate written communication, including record-keeping and patient notes which meet legal requirements, is vital to provide consistent and safe patient care

Adjustments must meet necessary standards of clarity, accuracy and accessibility to ensure effective recording and transmission of information in both academic and clinical environments.

Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the Support Equity Officers.

Examples:
• Constructing an essay to academic standards
• Constructing patient notes, reports and information sheets in a timely manner that meets legal and professional standards
• Responds appropriately and in a timely manner to communications from the University and/or clinical facilities