Prof. Chris Poulos
Head of Research & Aged Care Clinical Services | University of New South Wales
Sydney , NSW, AUSTRALIA
Associate Professor Chris Poulos is the Foundation Hammond Chair of Positive Ageing and Care with the University of New South Wales
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Biography
Chris is the Head of Research & Aged Care Clinical Services for HammondCare, one of Australia’s leading providers of aged care, dementia, palliative care and rehabilitation services. He is also conjoint Professor in the Faculty of Medical at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, a consultant physician in rehabilitation medicine and Visiting Principal Fellow, Australian Health Services Research Institute, University of Wollongong.
Prior to his current appointment Chris was the Foundation Hammond Chair of Positive Ageing and Care, UNSW. He has also held the position of President of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and has been a Director of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
Chris has been a practicing rehabilitation physician for over 25 years, during which time he has also managed a number of hospital and community-based rehabilitation and aged care clinical services. He has also been active on hospital and government committees exploring health system funding, improvement and innovation, and he consults to government and industry on rehabilitation, aged care and other subacute services.
Chris has a Masters in Health Policy and Management and a PhD, and is an active researcher and teacher. His current research interests include community-based rehabilitation and restorative programs for older people, the use of the arts to promote health and wellbeing, the wellness needs of carers of people with dementia, and rehabilitation and aged care service delivery.
Chris has worked with the IFA and DaneAge during 2015 and 2016 to identify the benefits of the reablement approach for older people with chronic diseases, including dementia.
Areas of Expertise (6)
Rehabilitation Medicine
Health Policy
Aged Care Service Delivery
Arts and health
Restorative care and reablement
Dementia and carers of people with dementia
Affiliations (5)
- The University of New South Wales Australia
- HammondCare
- The Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine
- The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
- The University of Wollongong
Links (2)
Languages (1)
- English
Media Appearances (1)
A blend of the academic and the practical
Australia Ageing Agenda online
2011-02-11
"In a significant step towards the advancement of the positive ageing model of care, the University of New South Wales has appointed Associate Professor Christopher Poulos as the inaugural Hammond Chair of Positive Ageing and Care, commencing in mid-March."
Featured Articles (3)
Determining the appropriateness of the patient journey from acute care to rehabilitation
BMC Health Services Research
31 October 2011 The selection of patients for rehabilitation, and the timing of transfer from acute care, are important clinical decisions that impact on care quality and patient flow. This paper reports utilization review data on inpatients in acute care with stroke, hip fracture or elective joint replacement, and other inpatients referred for rehabilitation. [...]
Evaluating inpatient public rehabilitation in Australia using a utilization review tool developed in North America
Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
March 2010 Objective: To evaluate inpatient rehabilitation in public facilities in Australia against a utilization review tool used in the USA. Design: Prospective cohort study. Subjects: Patients identified in the acute wards of a regional referral hospital and subsequently transferred to a public inpatient rehabilitation facility. Methods: The InterQual utilization review criteria were applied to days of stay in the rehabilitation wards. Reasons for variance and actual therapy time were recorded. Results: Data on 267 patient episodes (7359 days) are available. Only 48% of patient days met utilization review criteria, with reasons for variance including insufficient therapy, awaiting discharge to longterm care or to home and being more appropriate for acute medical care. Therapy time data (available on 208 patient episodes) show that therapy was received on 50% of calendar days and for an average of 37 min per weekday (56 min for stroke patients). Allied health staffing levels were below recommended levels, but consistent with other Australian public hospital rehabilitation facilities. Conclusion: Patients in these facilities seem to be receiving less therapy than their American counterparts; however, therapists often viewed their rehabilitation as appropriate. Findings also suggest inefficiencies in care delivery. Utilization review may help in the assessment of level of care appropriateness in the rehabilitation setting.
Supporting work practices, improving patient flow and monitoring performance using a clinical information management system
Australian Health Review
2007 Providing information technology solutions to clinicians to support their work practices benefits clinicians, administrators and patients. We present our 8-year experience with an inexpensive information management system which provides clinical and business process support for clinicians and bed managers. The system has been used by an area rehabilitation and aged care service to manage inpatient consultations and patient flow across nine hospitals. Performance monitoring of the time from referral to consultation, the number, type and outcome of consultations, and the time taken to access a rehabilitation or subacute bed is also provided. Read-only access to the system for clinicians and bed managers outside the rehabilitation and aged care service allows greater transparency.