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Australian Health Review Australian Health Review Society
Journal of the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association
RESEARCH ARTICLE

One career, many pathways, no direction: the challenge facing Allied Health clinician researchers

Caitlin Brandenburg https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6992-7790 A * and Elizabeth C. Ward https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2680-8978 A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Functioning and Health Research, Metro South Health, Queensland Health, Buranda, Brisbane, Qld 4102, Australia.

B School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.

Australian Health Review 46(5) 639-641 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH22102
Submitted: 20 April 2022  Accepted: 9 August 2022   Published: 25 August 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA.

Abstract

Career pathways for Allied Health clinician researchers in Australia are currently underdeveloped. As these pathways are limited in structure, there are a wide variety of pathways that are ‘cobbled together’ by Allied Health professionals to combine clinical and research careers. This perspective piece summarises some of these pathways and discusses recommended improvements to create more streamlined career pathways, vital to Australia’s research and patient care excellence.

Keywords: allied health, career pathways, careers, clinical academic, clinician researcher, health services, research capacity, research training, research workforce.


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