SynthesisBMC health services research2020
The effect of delegation of therapy to allied health assistants on patient and organisational outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC health services research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Can nursing students boost exercise therapy in a subacute ward? An implementation study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Development of an evidence-based framework to guide delegation of clinical tasks to physiotherapy support workers in musculoskeletal outpatient physiotherapy services.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Nursing Assistant in Italy: The Principle of Delegation of Health Activities and Liability Profiles.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
- Exploring the core characteristics of competence in healthcare assistants: a scoping review protocol.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Exploring maintenance rehabilitation in adults with chronic conditions: a scoping review of the literature.Disability and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Geriatric evaluation and management inpatients spend little time participating in physically, cognitively or socially meaningful activity: a time-motion analysis.Age and ageing · 2025Observational
- Building the private practice workforce in the Northern Territory: Barriers and facilitators for implementation of the allied health assistant role.The Australian journal of rural health · 2024Article
- Navigating Uncertainty with Compassion: Healthcare Assistants' Reflections on Balancing COVID-19 and Routine Care through Adversity.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Occupational therapy practice to support executive function impairment after acquired brain injury: A UK clinical survey.The British journal of occupational therapy · 2024Article
- Boosting inpatient exercise after hip fracture using an alternative workforce: a mixed methods implementation evaluation.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Article
- Clinical care ratios for, and tasks undertaken by, allied health professionals: A scoping review of the literature.PloS one · 2024Article
- 'Life is about movement-everything that is alive moves': a mixed methods study to understand barriers and enablers to inpatient mobility from the older patient's perspective.Age and ageing · 2023Article
- Exploring the role of medical imaging assistants in Australian medical imaging departments: A mixed-methods study.Journal of medical radiation sciences · 2023Article
- Allied health assistants' perspectives of their role in healthcare settings: A qualitative study.Health & social care in the community · 2022Article
- Delegation of patient related tasks to allied health assistants: a time motion study.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Barriers and Enablers to Delegating Malnutrition Care Activities to Dietitian Assistants.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Article
- Exploring utilisation of the allied health assistant workforce in the Victorian health, aged care and disability sectors.BMC health services research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAllied health assistants (AHAs) are support staff who complete clinical and non-clinical tasks under the supervision and delegation of an allied health professional. The effect of allied health professional delegation of clinical tasks to AHAs on patient and healthcare organisational outcomes is unknown. The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the effect of allied health professional delegation of therapy to AHAs on patient and organisational outcomes.
methodsA systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. Databases MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Informit (all databases), Emcare (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature [CINAHL] (EbscoHost) and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched from earliest date available. Additional studies were identified by searching reference lists and citation tracking. Two reviewers independently applied inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality of the study was rated using internal validity items from the Downs and Black checklist. Risk ratios (RR) and mean differences (MD) were calculated for patient and organisational outcomes. Meta-analyses were conducted using the inverse variance method and random-effects model.
resultsTwenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria. Results of meta-analysis provided low quality evidence that AHA supervised exercise in addition to usual care improved the likelihood of patients discharging home (RR 1.28, 95%CI 1.03 to 1.59, I
conclusionWe found preliminary evidence to suggest that the use of AHAs to provide additional therapy may be effective for improving some patient and organisational outcomes. REVIEW REGISTRATION: CRD42019127449.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.