Becoming an expert: highly-experienced allied health professionals' relationships with their work.

PURPOSE: Highly-experienced allied health professionals have the opportunity to perform at the expert-level by sharing knowledge and skills with more junior staff, with the aim of upskilling the workforce. The study explored the current motivators, aspirations and the role of work in the life of highly-experienced practitioners, revealing factors that hinder or support them to further develop their own expertise and be inspiring role-models and mentors for less experienced staff. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Taking a grounded theoretical research design, we report on interviews with 45 allied health practitioners with at least seven years of professional experience from different professions and across organisational sectors. Transcripts were coded iteratively in conjunction with reviewing the literature, and cases were categorised to form a conceptual typology of work orientation. FINDINGS: Four work orientations are characterised capturing the diversity of the allied health workforce, particularly in relation to two dimensions of personal fulfilment and future ambition. The relationship between the types and expert-level performance is discussed, leading to recommendations for support that can be implemented to develop and sustain expert-level performance within a community. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: A new view of work orientation is introduced that relates expert-level performance with meaningful work. The findings highlight a diversity of work orientation for highly-experienced allied health professionals, that all require managerial awareness. Once recognised, the four types would benefit from different supports that could develop and maintain expert-level performance in those that seek it. Alternatives are also available for those that do not. Implications for workforce policy are discussed.

Role of Professional Confidence in the Development of Expert Allied Health Professionals: A Narrative Review.

BACKGROUND: Although experienced and expert practitioners are valuable resources for the continuing professional development of other healthcare staff, there is not always a desire to take on this role. Sharing expertise benefits other practitioners, the profession, and healthcare overall. When professionals are unwilling to share, it is a missed opportunity to achieve the best outcomes for patients. METHODS: A narrative review of the literature in relation to professional confidence and expertise across allied health disciplines revealed a number of potential threats to professional confidence and consequently willingness to share information in an 'expert' role. FINDINGS: There is limited literature addressing development of professional confidence post-qualification, particularly after the first year of practice. Role ambiguity, unclear scope of practice, low professional status, and role conflict all threaten the confidence of practitioners. The importance of reflection as a practice to develop and maintain confidence is highlighted in both the student and practitioner literature. CONCLUSION: Training organisations and health workforce employers should consider how professional confidence can be developed and maintained across the career span, with subsequent benefits for development of expertise and knowledge sharing. Recommendations for reflexive thinking and conversations are included.

Professional expertise amongst speech-language therapists: "willing to share".

Purpose The current healthcare environment provides several challenges to the existing roles of healthcare professionals. The value of the professional expert is also under scrutiny. The purpose of this paper is to generate a construction of professional expertise amongst practitioners in the current healthcare environment. It used the speech-language therapy community in New Zealand (NZ) as an example. Design/methodology/approach Speech-language therapists currently practicing in NZ completed an online survey including qualitative and quantitative components. The range of experience and work settings of participants ( n=119) was representative of the workforce. Findings Participants clearly identified being "highly experienced" and "having in-depth knowledge" as essential elements of professional expertise. Thematic analysis generated two interconnected themes of a professional expert being a personal leader and teacher, and a highly experienced, knowledgeable and skilful practitioner. Additionally, practitioners needed to be seen to contribute to the community in order to be known as experts. Clinical practice was valued differently from research generation. Originality/value This study is novel in exploring a construction of professional expertise amongst practitioners in a current healthcare community. Within that community, experts could be viewed as highly effective practitioners that visibly contribute to the professional community. The study draws attention to the role of reputation and the impacts of being a clinical teacher or leader compared with pursuing a research role. This could be particularly relevant in the promotion of evidence-based practice.

Predictors of Workplace Bullying and Cyber-Bullying in New Zealand.

BACKGROUND: The negative effects of in-person workplace bullying (WB) are well established. Less is known about cyber-bullying (CB), in which negative behaviours are mediated by technology. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the current research examined how individual and organisational factors were related to WB and CB at two time points three months apart. METHODS: Data were collected by means of an online self-report survey. Eight hundred and twenty-six respondents (58% female, 42% male) provided data at both time points. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-three (15%) of participants had been bullied and 23 (2.8%) of participants had been cyber-bullied within the last six months. Women reported more WB, but not more CB, than men. Worse physical health, higher strain, more destructive leadership, more team conflict and less effective organisational strategies were associated with more WB. Managerial employees experienced more CB than non-managerial employees. Poor physical health, less organisational support and less effective organisational strategies were associated with more CB. CONCLUSION: Rates of CB were lower than those of WB, and very few participants reported experiencing CB without also experiencing WB. Both forms of bullying were associated with poorer work environments, indicating that, where bullying is occurring, the focus should be on organisational systems and processes.

La relación entre interacción familia-trabajo, agotamiento relacionado con el trabajo, distanciamiento y significado de la vida: estudio del bienestar emocional a nivel diario / The relationships between family-work interaction, job-related exhaustion, detachment, and meaning in life: A day-level study of emotional well-being

The aim of this research was to provide an integrative overview of the associations between employees’ daily emotional well-being (positive and negative affect) and family-work interaction, job-related exhaustion, detachment, and meaning in life. Service sector employees in Spain (N = 105) filled out a general measure and daily survey measures over five working days. Results showed that daily family-work conflict, job-related exhaustion and search for meaning in life predicted employees’ negative affect at night; conversely, daily detachment and presence of meaning in life had a negative relation with negative affect at night. In contrast, employees’ family-work facilitation, detachment, and presence of meaning in life predicted positive affect at night. Moreover, detachment moderated the relationship between family-work conflict and negative affect, and between the presence of meaning in life and positive affect. These findings have practical implications for individuals and organizations and suggest possible avenues for future research (AU)

El objetivo de la presente investigación fue proporcionar una visión integradora de las relaciones entre el bienestar diario emocional de los empleados (afecto positivo y negativo) y la interacción entre la familia y el trabajo, el agotamiento relacionado con el trabajo, el distanciamiento y el significado de la vida. Trabajadores del sector de servicios en España (N = 105) completaron un cuestionario general y cuestionarios diarias durante cinco días laborables. Los resultados mostraron que el conflicto familia-trabajo, el agotamiento relacionado con el trabajo y la búsqueda de sentido en la vida predecía a nivel diario el afecto negativo de los empleados por la noche. Por el contrario, el distanciamiento y la presencia de significado en la vida tenían una relación negativa con el afecto negativo por la noche. Por otra parte, la facilitación familia-trabajo, el distanciamiento y la presencia de sentido de la vida predecían el afecto positivo por la noche. Además, el distanciamiento moderaba la relación entre el conflicto familia-trabajo y el afecto negativo y entre la presencia de sentido de la vida y afecto positivo. Estos resultados tienen implicaciones prácticas para los individuos y las organizaciones y sugieren posibles vías de investigación futura (AU)