Australian Aged Care Nursing:
A Critical Review of Education, Training, Recruitment and Retention in
Residential and Community Settings
Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to provide a critical review of issues surrounding nursing education and training in aged care, and the current nursing shortages faced in the Australian aged care sector. This critical review examines recent literature that addresses these issues in residential and community based aged care, both in Australia and overseas.
In order to achieve these objectives the consultants developed 2 critical review protocols, outlined at the beginning of Chapters 3 and 4. Based upon the protocols, the review involved several stages:
- a comprehensive search of the literature using defined keywords;
- identification and selection of literature that was both relevant and of reasonable quality; and
- an analysis of this literature to provide a synthesis and overview of the key findings identified in the literature.
Overall, a total of 190 articles were selected from the literature searches. Following an initial review of each article for relevance, a total of 100 articles were selected and reviewed for this report. Seven Australian workforce studies/reports were also included in the current review.
Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the current aged care workforce; outlining aged care settings, aged population trends in Australia, and the provision of nursing education and training.
A review of the literature addressing education and training is presented in Chapter 2, and a review of recruitment and retention issues in Chapter 3. The outcomes of these reviews are synthesised to present an overview of the key findings from both areas in Chapter 4.
The review identifies a number of strategies for consideration:
Strategy 1 : A review of the structure of nursing and personal care teams in aged care (including roles and gender composition).
Strategy 2 : Expansion of the role of the registered nurse in aged care.
Strategy 3 : Consideration of an increase in the period of education and training for registered nurses to at least four academic years (i.e., 112 weeks).
Strategy 4 : Expansion of the role of the enrolled nurse in aged care.
Strategy 5 : Consideration of an increase in the period of education and training for enrolled nurses to at least two years and eligibility for high performing graduates to enter the third year of a four year degree program in nursing.
Strategy 6 : Identification and implementation of strategies by the aged care sector to promote the development and maintenance of supportive work environments in aged care homes.
Strategy 7 : Collaboration between The Royal College of Nursing, Australia, the Australian Nursing Federation, and other parts of the aged care sector and key stakeholders to develop a strategy to credential advanced practice aged care nurses.
Strategy 8 : Higher education and training providers, in collaboration with aged care homes, further develop and market clinically relevant postgraduate programs in aged care.
Strategy 9 : The aged care sector develop strategies to encourage nurses to undertake advanced studies in gerontological nursing; explicitly reward nurses who complete advanced studies; and develop roles to accommodate the specialised knowledge and skills of advanced gerontological nursing clinicians.
Strategy 10 : Development of strategies to improve the image of aged care, involving collaborative efforts between the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, aged care sector and the media.
Strategy 11 : Development of an agreed national education and training plan for aged care nurses by Industrial Nursing Organisations and other relevant parts of the aged care sector.
Strategy 12 : Establishment and funding by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and aged care sector for a national aged care nursing research program.
Any comments or queries should be sent to: highered@dest.gov.au
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