We’re pleased to announce today we launched the Allied Health Research Strategic Plan. The plan is an opportunity to celebrate our existing allied health research strengths and to move forward, expanding and enriching our research culture and capability.
Dr Abby Foster, Allied Health Research Advisor, wrote the plan on behalf of the Allied Health Research Committee and the Chief Allied Health Officer.
“Our practice needs to be evidence informed and our research needs to be practice informed,” Abby says. “Those things need to come together for us to be real leaders in healthcare.”
The plan highlights research focus areas which are ripe for collaboration across Monash sites.
“I think the tool is going to be absolutely vital in creating opportunities for partnerships and collaborations,” Abby says.
In fact, the research plan itself is a product of extensive consultation, both within Monash Health and beyond.
“There’s no use producing a document like this without ownership and buy-in from the people who are going to be using it,” says Abby. “So it was important to build that level of engagement and interaction right from the beginning.”
Abby hopes that the strategic plan inspires allied health clinicians to lead their own research.
“We’ve included narratives that are snapshots of our researchers on the ground, and part of the reason we did that was to make the plan more relatable. We’ve got people working in the community, specialist clinics, mental health, acute, subacute and paediatrics. I think that will really work to build engagement.”
The Allied Health Research Strategic Plan is available to read now.
Approved by Danielle Ryan, Chief Allied Health Officer