A viable care migration programme for Australia's ageing population: Recruiting migrant personal care workers for Australian aged care

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-385
Author(s):  
Rachel Morrison‐Dayan
Keyword(s):  
Aged Care ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Care Workers

Scheduling longer working lives for older aged care workers: A time and income capability approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 945-965
Author(s):  
Aaron Hart ◽  
Dina Bowman ◽  
Shelley Mallett
Keyword(s):  
Later Life ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
Income Poverty ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Time Poverty ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Cost

Like many other countries, Australian government policy focuses on extending working life as a response to concern about the cost of an ageing population. In this article, we focus on older aged care workers and highlight how poor employment conditions hinder their capacity to work in later life. Many of these workers are at risk of time and income poverty, since they are on low wage, part-time, low-hour contracts and need to pick up extra shifts to earn a living wage. The interactions between time poverty and income poverty have been developed within a body of literature that analyses the quantities of time individuals and households allocate to paid employment, household, family and caring responsibilities, sleep and self-care. Burchardt’s notion of ‘time and income capability’ brings insights from this corpus into dialogue with the capabilities approach, a political philosophy that equates wellbeing with the breadth of realistic opportunities for people to do things that they have reason to value. This study uses Burchardt’s construct to analyse qualitative data from interviews with 20 older personal care workers. While all the workers we spoke with engaged in self-sustaining practices, there were varying levels of opportunity to pursue them. Workers with less time and income capability found it more difficult to sustain themselves and their households. Some employer practices diminished workers’ time and income capability: unrealistic workloads necessitating unpaid hours; providing little opportunity for input into rostering; and late-notice roster changes. When time and income capability was too low, workers’ informal care duties, social connections and health were compromised. In the Australian aged care sector, several changes can enable longer working lives: sufficient paid hours to perform the role, wage loading for hours in addition to those contracted, written notice for roster changes, and increased wages.

scholarly journals Personal care workers in Australian aged care: retention and turnover intentions

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 557-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Radford ◽  
Kate Shacklock ◽  
Graham Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Turnover Intentions ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Care Workers

scholarly journals Staffing policy in aged care must look beyond the numbers

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 829
Author(s):  
Sarah Wise
Keyword(s):  
Aged Care ◽  
Career Pathways ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Skill Mix ◽  
Staffing Levels ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Complex Population ◽  
Care System

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted an aged care system struggling to meet the needs of vulnerable Australians. Staffing levels and skill mix in aged care have declined, whereas the health and social needs of an older and more clinically complex population have risen. Increasing staff and improving personal care workers’ skills and education are essential steps to quality aged care in Australia, but it will not be possible without funding models that foster secure employment, development opportunities and long-term career pathways.

scholarly journals Turnover Intention Among Direct Care Workers of Older Adults in Chinese Hospitals and Nursing Homes

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 86-86
Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Zhang ◽  
Shuangshuang Wang ◽  
Nengliang (Aaron) Yao ◽  
Zhang Zhenzhen
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Turnover Intention ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Identity Transformation ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Direct Care Workers ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Government

Abstract High retention rates among direct care workers (DCWs) affect the quality of aged care. However, limited research has explored factors associated with retention in the Chinese aged care industry. This study compared turnover intention and job satisfaction among DCWs in Chinese hospitals and nursing homes. A total 370 DCWs from 7 hospitals (297 contractual, 73 non-contractual) and 311 DCWs from 7 nursing homes (27 contractual, 284 non-contractual) located in Fujian, China were recruited to fill out a questionnaire. Overall, DCWs from hospitals reported lower turnover intention (20.5 % vs 37.0%) and higher levels of job satisfaction (31.1% vs 16.4%) than DCWs from nursing homes. Specifically, contractual DCWs from hospitals indicated lower turnover intention (14.8%) than non-contractual DCWs from hospitals (43.8%) and both types of DCWs from nursing homes (36.3% and 44.4%). Higher job satisfaction was associated with lower turnover intention, but did not mediate the association between DCW types and turnover intention. Findings suggested that the government and institutions should help DCWs complete the identity transformation from non-contractual DCWs to contractual DCWs to enhance job security and benefits. For nursing home DCWs, licensing and registration requirements shall meet the standards for hospital DCWs. Attention is also to be paid to working conditions and staff welfare of DCWs, including social insurance, pensions, and trainings, to improve job satisfaction and reduce turnover intention.

Understanding the nature and impact of occupational stress on Australian rural aged care workers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica T. Jones ◽  
Rachael A. Heckenberg ◽  
Bradley J. Wright ◽  
Suzanne Hodgkin
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Stress ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Care Workers

scholarly journals Diet, nutrients and metabolism: cogs in the wheel driving Alzheimer's disease pathology?

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (10) ◽  
pp. 1499-1517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhona Creegan ◽  
Wendy Hunt ◽  
Alexandra McManus ◽  
Stephanie R. Rainey-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Stage Disease ◽  
Custodial Care ◽  
Global Statistics ◽  
End Stage

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease that manifests clinically as a slow global decline in cognitive function, including deterioration of memory, reasoning, abstraction, language and emotional stability, culminating in a patient with end-stage disease, totally dependent on custodial care. With a global ageing population, it is predicted that there will be a marked increase in the number of people diagnosed with AD in the coming decades, making this a significant challenge to socio-economic policy and aged care. Global estimates put a direct cost for treating and caring for people with dementia at $US604 billion, an estimate that is expected to increase markedly. According to recent global statistics, there are 35·6 million dementia sufferers, the number of which is predicted to double every 20 years, unless strategies are implemented to reduce this burden. Currently, there is no cure for AD; while current therapies may temporarily ameliorate symptoms, death usually occurs approximately 8 years after diagnosis. A greater understanding of AD pathophysiology is paramount, and attention is now being directed to the discovery of biomarkers that may not only facilitate pre-symptomatic diagnosis, but also provide an insight into aberrant biochemical pathways that may reveal potential therapeutic targets, including nutritional ones. AD pathogenesis develops over many years before clinical symptoms appear, providing the opportunity to develop therapy that could slow or stop disease progression well before any clinical manifestation develops.

A younger onset dementia toolkit: Innovative practice

Dementia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1307
Author(s):  
Caroline Vafeas ◽  
Elisabeth Jacob ◽  
Alycia Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Expert Panel ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Dementia Care ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Community Environment ◽  
Innovative Practice ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Family ◽  
Specific Care ◽  
The Individual

A diagnosis of younger onset dementia requires specific care tailored to the individual and the family. Dementia care workers often do not have the skills and experience necessary to offer this care within the residential and community environment. This article reports the development of an interactive resource to educate those employed to care for people living with younger onset dementia. Prescription for Life, a talking e-Flipbook was developed and piloted in two states of Australia. Feedback from the pilots was incorporated in the resource prior to a national rollout. The project was supported by an expert panel, including experts from national aged care providers.

Not always a quick fix: The impact of employing temporary agency workers on retention in the Australian aged care workforce

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra King ◽  
Sven Svensson ◽  
Zhang Wei
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Intention To Leave ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Nurse Satisfaction ◽  
Aged Care Facilities ◽  
Care Worker ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

The use of external labour such as temporary agency workers in the general workforce has increased in recent decades, but comparatively little is known about their impact within the aged care workforce. This article analyses quantitative data from a census of aged care facilities and a large-scale survey of their workforce regarding the use and impact of temporary agency workers on internal workers. It demonstrates that employing temporary agency workers helps address labour shortages generally and skill shortages in particular. However, it has a negative impact on the job satisfaction of internal personal care workers – a predictor of an increase in intention to leave. In contrast, there was little impact on internal nurse satisfaction. The use of temporary agency workers could therefore create a paradox: increasing personal care worker numbers in the short term, but negatively impacting on their retention in the long term. Given the need for an expanded and sustainable aged care workforce, this finding has important implications for organisations, policy and unions.

Compassion and person‐centred care: Survey development for aged care workers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gordon ◽  
Rebecca Burns ◽  
Stephanie Champion ◽  
Liana Niutta ◽  
Paul Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Aged Care ◽  
Survey Development ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Survey

Aged care nurse practitioners in Australia: evidence for the development of their role

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Clark ◽  
Rhian Parker ◽  
Brenton Prosser ◽  
Rachel Davey
Keyword(s):  
Nurse Practitioners ◽  
Nurse Practitioner ◽  
The United States ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Service Planning ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Healthcare Outcomes ◽  
The Impact

Aim To consider evidence surrounding the emerging role of nurse practitioners in Australia with a particular focus on the provision of healthcare to older people. Methods Methods used included keyword, electronic database and bibliographic searches of international literature, as well as review of prominent policy reports in relation to aged care and advanced nursing roles. Results This paper reports on evidence from systematic reviews and international studies that show that nurse practitioners improve healthcare outcomes, particularly for hard to service populations. It also maps out the limited Australian evidence on the impact of nurse practitioners’ care in aged care settings. Conclusions If Australia is to meet the health needs of its ageing population, more evidence on the effectiveness, economic viability and sustainability of models of care, including those utilising nurse practitioners, is required. What is known about the topic? Australia, like many industrialised countries, faces unprecedented challenges in the provision of health services to an ageing population. Attempts to respond to these challenges have resulted in changing models of healthcare and shifting professional boundaries, including the development of advance practice roles for nurses. One such role is that of the nurse practitioner. There is international evidence that nurse practitioners provide high-quality healthcare. Despite being established in the United States for nearly 50 years, nurse practitioners are a relatively recent addition to the Australian health workforce. What does this paper add? This paper positions a current Australian evaluation of nurse practitioners in aged care against the background of the development of the role of nurse practitioners internationally, evidence for the effectiveness of the role, and evidence for nurse practitioners in aged care. Recent legislative changes in Australia now mean that private nurse practitioner roles can be fully implemented and hence evaluated. In the face of the increasing demands of an ageing population, the paper highlights limitations in current Australian evidence for nurse practitioners in aged care and identifies the importance of a national evaluation to begin to address these limitations. What are the implications for practitioners? The success of future healthcare planning and policy depends on implementing effective initiatives to address the needs of older Australians. Mapping the terrain of contemporary evidence for nurse practitioners highlights the need for more research into nurse practitioner roles and their effectiveness across Australia. Understanding the boundaries and limitations to current evidence is relevant for all involved with health service planning and delivery.

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