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Aged care drawbacks
Attracting younger workers to the sector .
What pushes a worker to enter , stay or leave aged care ?
That was the question a Flinders University study unpacked as the sector braces for future workforce shortages .
It found work-related stress , lack of career progression and a dearth of up-skilling opportunities were among the key drawbacks .
Published in the International Nursing Review , the study involved 32 aged care staff working for not-for-profit organisations .
Lead author Professor Lily Xiao said more needs to be done by policymakers and employers to attract and retain workers seeking certainty and opportunities for their career development to help eliminate ongoing issues in the sector .
“ Participants perceived inadequate staffing levels were the main sources of stress they experienced in the workplace and influenced their intention to leave the job ,” said Xiao .
“ They also reported managers who lacked nursing care knowledge and were not approachable for staff to share their thoughts and ideas . On the contrary , managers and supervisors who developed social bonds with team members and shared decision making with the team attracted staff to stay .”
Xiao added that employer-sponsored education enables staff to develop their careers and could be a deciding factor for a nurse considering a new venture .
“ Staff expect paid education to develop their leadership and teamwork skills .
“ Continuing education and mentorship for managers and registered nurses to develop knowledge about staff issues and effective leadership will help reduce staff turnover .”
These sentiments were echoed in the counsel assisting ’ s final report to the aged care royal commission .
In their wrap up , the lawyers wrote that : “ Inadequate staffing , skill mix and training are some of the key contributors to substandard care in the current system .”
The counsel assisting added that difficulties attracting enough people with the right skills to work in aged care can be explained , in part , “ by the lack of competitive employment conditions and poor workforce planning and strategy by the Australian Government and the aged care sector ”.
“ There are also difficulties retaining workers . Approved providers could ensure better employee satisfaction and job retention through an improved work environment where employee feedback is valued and considered .” ■
Counting the cost
Aged care royal commission releases elder abuse estimates .
New research is adding some depth to the picture of
elder abuse in Australia , with a royal commission paper estimating more than a third of Australians living in aged care facilities have faced neglect , emotional abuse or physical abuse .
Around 39.2 per cent of residents have encountered at least one of the three forms of abuse , according to the experimental estimates released late last year by the Office of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety .
The figures were calculated using data from the royal commission ’ s residential aged care survey , previously conducted by the National Ageing Research Institute .
It included 391 residents or their representative , all of whom were drawn randomly from a representative random sample of 67 aged care facilities .
The most prevalent form of abuse was estimated to be neglect , with the research paper suggesting 30.8 per cent of people face it in aged care facilities . The term covers , among other issues , how residents are helped to shower , eat and toilet , and how concerns about medication and pain are managed .
That was followed by emotional abuse – taking into account issues like being shouted at by staff and treated like a child – at 22.6 per cent , and physical abuse at 5 per cent , covering being restrained , not being allowed outside or out of their chair or bed , and being hurt or treated roughly by staff .
While the survey comprised a number of questionnaires exploring quality of care , general life satisfaction and concerns and complaints , it was not designed to measure the prevalence of elder abuse . Still , with a dearth of knowledge about the extent elder abuse occurs in the sector , the royal commission used responses from the survey that best fit its definition to create its estimates .
The paper did not explore estimated rates of financial , social and sexual abuse as the data didn ’ t appropriately cover those issues . ■
6 | nursingreview . com . au