Quality and Safety in Aged Care Virtual Issue: What Australian research published in the Australasian Journal on Ageing tells us

Abstract

Objective: To review studies published in the Australasian Journal on Ageing (AJA) about the aged care workforce, and to identify influences on quality of care and potential policy directions.

Methods: Articles in the AJA on the aged care workforce published from 2009 to 2018 were identified, grouped into themes and rated for quality.

Results: Twenty-eight articles were identified. Articles fell into four themes: (i) staff knowledge, skills and attitudes; (ii) staff well-being and workforce stability; (iii) environmental factors that influence staff capacity; and (iv) interventions to improve staff capacity. Studies reinforced the importance of staff-consumer, staff-relatives and staff-staff relationships and a supportive workplace culture for staff work ability and capacity to provide high quality care.

Conclusions: It is possible to improve practice in community and residential aged care, given: (i) enough staff; (ii) better training in person-centred practice; and (iii) a supportive staff culture that encourages staff to put their training into practice.

Keywords: health services for the aged; home care services; homes for the aged; nursing care; patient safety; patient-centred care; quality of health care.