Aged Care Insite Issue 97 | October-November 2016 | Page 35

workforce that predicted loss of about 25 per cent of nurses who responded they were likely or very likely to leave the industry,” Thomas says. “One of the most dramatic and consistent responses from nurses and midwives was the overwhelming workloads being experienced. This is particularly what the ANMF has found in aged care. “It’s not uncommon for one (RN) to be caring for up to 100 or more nursing home residents, many of them with complex care needs. “These frontline nurses and assistants in nursing are having to cope with excessive workloads, [a lack of] nationally mandated staff ratios, and ongoing attacks on their daily working conditions – and it’s clearly taking its toll on them.” One survey participant working as an RN in aged care had been in the profession for 40 years but had become disillusioned with the system in general and lost motivation. “I was with my previous employer for 12 years and got treated very badly and so were a lot of RNs and we were told we were old wood and need to move on,” the nurse said. Recruitment is good at the moment, Holland says, but added people aged 45 and over are doing fewer and fewer hours, which might indicate intent to move out of the profession. “The danger is [the age people start doing that] might start creeping down into the early 40s, late 30s, as people in those generations see the ones above them leaving the profession, feeling undervalued and disheartened by what they’ve done in terms of how the organisation supports them.” Although jobs may be filled in the short term, Monash’s Holland suspects if there are no organisational changes and some factors affecting nurses worsen, there will be an increasing exodus down through the ages. “It might affect recruitment of highquality people,” he warns. He says if the profession is increasingly being perceived as devalued, fewer capable people may be inclined to pursue it. Monash Business School’s Australian Consortium for Research on Employment and Work has undertaken the survey roughly every three years since 2011. When comparing the most recent survey and previous ones, Holland says, there was deterioration across all comparative indicators, adding investments in the nursing workforce and better management practices are necessary. He says there are issues within the control of stakeholders that can be looked at now, including ratios, work intensification and the extra pressures being put on nurses. Holland acknowledges that there is a culture in Australia of bringing in nurses from overseas, but says it’s still necessary to retain the quality nurses already here. “That’s a better return on investment than simply letting them go in their early 50s or late 40s and replacing them down the track,” he says. The ANMF’s Thomas says if the Turnbull Government refused to overturn the funding cuts to the aged-care sector, the country would continue to see more and more nurses walking away from the profession, with fewer and fewer graduates coming through to replace them. ■ CORPORATE TRAINING TOOLKITS AHRI training toolkits are a practical and cost-effective way to upskill your team. Toolkits contain materials to run a half-day course and include: course agenda, participant workbook, powerpoint presentation and step by step facilitator guide. TOOLKIT TOPICS: • Behavioural interviewing skills • Building resilience at work • Communicating effectively • Managing performance • Managing unconscious bias at work CONTACT AHRI ON 1300 239 978 OR AT [email protected] agedcareinsite.com.au 33