Have you ever heard of elephant trails?
You’ve probably seen them. Also known as desire paths, they’re those dirt tracks that veer off a concrete footpath to create a more efficient or effective route. They’re what people carve out when the official route doesn’t quite take them where they need to go.
Traditionally, healthcare roles have acted like a concrete footpath. They’re clearly bounded, linear, and tightly tied to job titles, tasks and scopes of practice. But this model of care is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain, particularly in rural areas. An increase in chronic conditions, complex needs, stretched resources and staffing shortages means health workforces are under pressure to act flexibly and do more with what they already have.
So, some (brave, bold and brilliant) health professionals have begun to carve out their own elephant trails. They’re reshaping their professional roles around what clients need most, rather than traditional identity or job title. They’re called post-professionals (PoPs), and they have the capacity to address many of the complex problems facing healthcare in rural settings.
What are Post Professionals?
PoPs are experienced practitioners who move beyond professional identity and work across disciplines to meet the complex needs of people and services in their communities. Unlike traditional rural generalist or interdisciplinary roles (where professionals largely remain within their core discipline while extending their scope) PoPs rethink the role itself.
They break down professional tasks and deliberately recombine them into new ways of working to create roles that are shaped by what clients actually need to function well every day. In practice, this often means coordinating and delivering care in more flexible, connected, and responsive ways that can fill gaps standard health services often are unable to address.
What are Allied Health Post-Professionals?
In rural settings, allied health (AH) professionals are particularly well placed to work in PoP roles. Many already practise autonomously, support people with chronic and complex conditions, and contribute to improved outcomes such as fewer avoidable hospital visits.
Allied health post-professionals (AH PoPs), have close partnerships with clients and the ability to address complex individual and organisational needs – skills that are crucial for value-based healthcare. PoP roles fit naturally within value-based healthcare because they are built around collaboration, flexibility, and responding to real needs as they emerge.
How We Studied Post-Professional Roles in Rural Australia
Despite the value of AH PoPs, not much is known about the nature of their practice. So, we talked to the people who sit at the centre of this work to understand what emerging AH PoP roles actually look like, how they function day to day, and the conditions that shape how they develop and operate.
We spoke to AH professionals already working in PoP roles, and the health service leaders who oversee these roles. Together, their perspectives paint a picture of what’s actually happening on the ground and why.
From these conversations, four clear themes emerged. Two describe the nature of post-professional roles themselves: AH PoP meet clients ‘where they are at and Hidden healthcare heroes.
The other two highlight what shapes these roles in rural settings: How AH PoPs stretch and grow their skillset and The social construction of AH PoP roles.
AH PoP meet clients ‘where they are at’
“You’re bringing a perspective which is often not considered by the medical system… You’re sort of walking around the client and thinking “okay they’ve got this diagnosis but really is that the most important thing in their life?” and half the time you’ll find it’s not… You’re looking at the other issues in their life and giving that equal weight to how they manage their medical diagnosis”. — Health Care Coordinator 6
AH PoPs often spoke about working with clients whose needs don’t fit neatly into standard health service models. For these people, AH PoPs focus on coordinating flexible, tailored support by taking the time to understand each person’s situation with an open mind so they can identify what really matters to them and what’s been missed.
This means looking beyond immediate clinical issues to the social and practical factors shaping health, such as housing, mobility, mental wellbeing or access to support.
By identifying priorities early and addressing root causes, AH PoP’s help people stay independent, engage in self-management of their health, and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.
Hidden Healthcare Heroes: The Invisible Impact of PoPs
One of the challenges facing AH PoPs is that much of their work is preventative, meaning success is measured by what doesn’t happen.
“it’s really hard to measure [the fact] that people didn’t come to hospital, particularly in the short term, end of financial year and budget” — Complex Care Coordinator, FG
The value of AH PoP’s often shows up through stories, informal feedback, and small but meaningful shifts in behaviour. While their importance is widely recognised by clients and colleagues, the systems responsible for funding, reporting and workforce planning still struggle to make this value visible.
Allied Health Post-Professionals Stretch and Grow Their Skillset
The work of AH PoPs is flexible, creative, and shaped by the people they support. Because no two clients arrive with the same needs, AH PoPs have broad skill sets, strong local networks, and the ability to connect people with a broad range of service providers.
The teams and programmes AH PoPs work in are often multidisciplinary. This allows them to learn continuously from other professions and continuously evolve how they think about supporting people with complex needs.
Think less job title, more toolkit. AH PoPs consider the broader context of client’s lives and health and think creatively to address all their needs. They combine their specific clinical skills with a practical understanding of chronic illness, self-management and the social realities that shape everyday life, and combine these skills with the shared knowledge from other disciplines.
The role is shaped by knowledge of local health services, broader systems, and specific clinical skills, making it highly responsive and ever growing.
The Social Construction of Allied Health Post-Professional Roles
Despite all the good stuff, the systems around AH PoPs are still catching up.
Although these professionals bring experience, broad skill sets and a strong ability to work across disciplines, their roles are still being defined, negotiated and, at times, resisted.
AH PoPs don’t sit neatly inside traditional boxes, and often face challenges including unclear role recognition, outdated grading structures, pay that doesn’t reflect responsibility, and limited career pathways. In some cases, conservative views of professional identity slow referrals and restrict the impact these roles could have.
Yet where AH PoPs are supported by flexible funding and teams willing to learn together the benefits are clear: stronger collaboration, better skill development, and more responsive care.
Why Post-Professional Roles Matter for the Future of Rural Care
AH PoPs in rural settings enable the implementation of real client-centred care.
They are shaped by the realities of people’s lives rather than service boundaries or professional silos. AH PoPs adapt their skill sets and approach to deliver genuinely individualised, client-centred support. They deliver solutions that actually improve health outcomes and teams that keep learning as complexity evolves.
Despite their impact, these roles remain fragile. Career pathways are unclear, recognition is inconsistent, and the structures designed to support professional growth haven’t kept pace with the reality of complex care.
The work of AH PoPs needs to be visible, protected and supported. That means recognising skills properly, expanding what AH PoPs are authorised to do, and designing systems that reward collaboration rather than defend silos.
In stretched and under-resourced systems, finding better ways to recognise and show the value of AH PoPs is critical. When we do that, client-centred care stops being a buzzphrase and becomes concrete action.
What are We Doing at UNPLEXi to Suppport PoPs
UNPLEXi helps make the value of AH PoPs visible. By capturing needs early, structuring evidence clearly and tracking change over time, UNPLEXi doesn’t just show what services were delivered, but why they mattered, what they prevented, and how they supported outcomes that make a real difference to people’s lives.
When complexity is documented properly, flexible roles are easier to justify, client-centred care becomes tangible, and systems are better equipped to support the work rural communities already rely on.
While they might break the boundaries, elephant trails give people a better way through. A way that works for them. AH PoPs are doing the same work in rural care. They deserve our support.
A, and the UNPLEXi team.
*The content of this blog comes from my most recent research paper. I wrote it with some truly brilliant (and patient) humans—Olivia King (PhD), Cath Cosgrave PhD, Christina Malatzky, Rosalie B.
It was thoughtful work. It took a long time. Every sentence was crafted. I would love for you to read it. Follow the link: Emergence of a New Post-Professional Allied Health Workforce to Address Complex Healthcare Needs of Rural Patients: A Qualitative Exploratory Study