Allied health graduate program – supporting the transition from student to professional in an interdisciplinary program

The transition from student to professional is challenging. Training programs provide discipline specific skills but do not adequately develop the interprofessional, team focused and work ready clinicians needed for the current workplace. In Australia, a formal graduate year is common in nursing; however, structured programs to support the student to professional transition are uncommon in allied health. This paper reports on the first year of an innovative program designed to address this gap. Fourteen new graduates at Northern Health in Melbourne, Australia from the disciplines of occupational therapy, physical education, physiotherapy, podiatry, social work and speech pathology participated in twelve, 2-hour sessions over a ten-month period during their first year of professional practice. These facilitated sessions aimed to foster reflective practice, peer support, to develop professional characteristics and provide an interdisciplinary forum for sharing experiences and learning. The paper outlines graduates and facilitators experience, together with the impacts for the health service.