The New South Wales Allied Health Workplace Learning Study: barriers and enablers to learning in the workplace
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BACKGROUND: Workplace learning refers to continuing professional development that is stimulated by and occurs through participation in workplace activities. Workplace learning is essential for staff development and high quality clinical care. The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers to and enablers of workplace learning for allied health professionals within NSW Health. METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted with a purposively selected maximum variation sample (n =46) including 19 managers, 19 clinicians and eight educators from 10 allied health professions. Seven semi-structured interviews and nine focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed. The 'framework approach' was used to guide the interviews and analysis. Textual data were coded and charted using an evolving thematic framework. RESULTS: Key enablers of workplace learning included having access to peers, expertise and 'learning networks', protected learning time, supportive management and positive staff attitudes. The absence of these key enablers including heavy workload and insufficient staffing were important barriers to workplace learning. CONCLUSION: Attention to these barriers and enablers may help organisations to more effectively optimise allied health workplace learning. Ultimately better workplace learning may lead to improved patient, staff and organisational outcomes.
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A study of 46 allied health professionals in Australia identified heavy workload and inadequate staffing as key barriers to workplace learning.
“A recently published study specific to the identification of barriers and enablers to learning among a sample of 46 allied health professionals in Australia identified heavy workload and inadequate staffing as key barriers to workplace learning (Lloyd et al. 2014).”
From Understanding skill acquisition among registered nurses: the ‘perpetual novice’ phenomenon (2015) · cites this paper as Lloyd et al. 2014
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Understanding skill acquisition among registered nurses: the ‘perpetual novice’ phenomenon
Wilson, B., Harwood, L., & Oudshoorn, A. (2015) · Journal of Clinical Nursing · doi:10.1111/jocn.12978 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lloyd, B., Pfeiffer, D., Dominish, J., Heading, G., Schmidt, D., & McCluskey, A.
- Affiliations
- Health Education and Training Institute (AU)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Lloyd, Bradley
- Venue
- BMC Health Services Research
- Published
- 2014-03-25
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 134-134
- ISSN
- 1472-6963 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3987912
- OpenAlex
- W1989041098
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 3.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Health Services Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Innovative Education and Learning Practices
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Learning and Leadership
- Keywords
- workplace learning, allied health professionals, continuing professional development, barriers and facilitators, employee development, learning networks, protected learning time, supportive management, workload, labor shortage, peer learning, NSW Health
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Allied Health Personnel, Education, Continuing, Female, Humans, Inservice Training, Interviews as Topic, Learning, Male, Middle Aged, New South Wales, Workplace, Focus Groups, Qualitative Research
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