Evaluation of Australia's first academic integrative healthcare centre
Primary Supervisor: Dr Carolyn Ee (opens in a new window)
Western Sydney Integrative Health (WSIH) is an academic multidisciplinary health centre that offers integrative healthcare (evidence-informed complementary therapies combined with conventional care), within a research-led culture, and is the first academic integrative medicine centre in Australia. WSIH is an initiative of NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, the peak complementary therapies research institute in Australia, and aims to provide high-quality person-centred care working in collaboration with patients and stakeholders, while contributing to scientific knowledge. Evaluation of the WSIH centre is an ongoing, prospective, observational study of patients attending WSIH and the practitioners and staff that care for them. You will undertake a 12 month evaluation of WSIH using the patient registry and other methods (data linkage, qualitative methods) as deemed feasible. You will be supervised by Dr Carolyn Ee, Program Lead of WSIH, and a practising GP and acupuncturist.
The aim of the study is to examine the value and safety of our model of care at WSIH, and whether we are achieving our objectives. The study design is a well-developed evaluation framework incorporating a broad range of qualitative self-report instruments that are used to routinely measure the extent to which WSIH meets performance targets in delivering evidence-based, whole-person care in a multidisciplinary and team-based environment. This will include practice-level performance on clinical quality, systematic assessment (interviews) of context from the perspective of patients and team members, and systematic assessment of intervention delivery. Data produced will contribute to a clinical registry to enable observation of health outcomes, in particular, those relating to chronic disease. A patient registry will be established to store data and assess the extent to which WSIH is achieving its aims (summative evaluation) and inform patient care and the future directions of the integrative healthcare program at WSIH (formative evaluation). Secondary sources of evaluative data will include electronic medical record extracts and linkage with Commonwealth administrative datasets. This mixed methods approach will depend on feasibility of completion during the PhD.
We are seeking a motivated and dedicated PhD student researcher to join our team in the process of evaluation of WSIH. You will contribute to this development by advancing our data management and analysis processes and will play an integral role in the evaluation of WSIH. This will involve monitoring, evaluating, developing, and implementing strategies to ensure we are best meeting the needs of our service users in line with WSIH strategic directions and organisational priorities. Prerequisites include clinical and/or research experience in healthcare, biostatistics, epidemiology, or public health. Alignment with WSIH values of quality and safety, patient- and community-centredness, team-based care, and evidence-based medicine, is essential. You will be expected to develop skills in data management, management of large datasets, data linkage, and program evaluation. This position suits a researcher with an interest in models of care, health services research, and integrative healthcare more broadly.