A recent national ‘call to action’ to qualified health professionals to support health services in the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in nursing and allied health professionals returning to practice following absence or experiencing re-assignment or are new entrants. Health professionals are bound by their respective codes of practice and owe patients safe standards of care but this can be challenging in a crisis, especially when professionals may be working outside of their usual scope. These professionals are likely to require additional support to assist their confidence and competence. Within HEI’s and professional bodies, there are vast repositories of knowledge, expertise, and experience that can be harnessed to rapidly support these professionals as they grapple with new/emerging evidence and practice contexts.
We aim to (1) implement an online rapid resource repository providing individualised support for nursing and allied health professionals, where individual clinical questions will be addressed in a timely manner using rapid sourcing and evidence reviews by experienced researchers complemented by specialist clinicians; (2) collate/synthesise individual queries and responses and develop a central, timely, relevant, resource for health professionals; 3) conduct a realist evaluation RRR-HP to examine the process and impact on professionals return/entry to practice in a crisis, and develop recommendations for practice, education, policy, and research.
Method: We will develop a dedicated website linked through the relevant health professional bodies, local and national health services providers, HSCP office and HSELand. We will open a Twitter account to complement the online platform and improve reach and dissemination. The resource will be evaluated using a realist evaluation approach. Impact: We believe that this individualised resource repository will have practical demonstrable impact on nursing and allied health professionals returning to work or assigned to out of scope practice and will be of benefit to professional bodies in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
