residential aged care LL whinges

gundyausnurse · Feb 25, 2006

Hello

I really doubt the new RCS will help with those problems at all. not that i hope they wont i just think the main issues in residential aged care in australia are predominetly staffing issues. the fact that there are no pre qualifications needed to enter aged care makes it hard to get high quality employees. The new RCS may assist with funding though. thats just my veiw however :mad:

froghair · Feb 25, 2006

were the amount of documentation increases you can see the hands on decreasing

Grace Oz · Feb 27, 2006

For as long as aged care is viewed by many nurses as "less" then "real" nursing, it will continue to attract those least qualified to that sector of healthcare.

Why anyone ever considers aged care less important or worthy of talented, qualified, staff, is beyond my comprehension.

Yet, even in these, so called, enlightened, times, we continue to see unqualified people employed in caring for our older citizens.

The only difference between them and us, is they got there before us! Our turn is coming! and, for some of us, it's closer than we might like! I sure as hell don't want unqualified, untrained, incompetent, care givers looking after me or my loved ones! No matter how well intentioned or caring they may be! Without proper training and knowledge, you cannot possibly provide the care required.

But.... how DO we encourage and attract nurses into this field of nursing?!

greatshakes · Mar 19, 2006

:angryfire I am annoyed. My husband who has MND, a neurological disorder, but is still with it and can still speak is in a long term facility and they have hired African nurses to help ease the shortage. Well two nights back one of these said nurses bought him in his tablets and demand that he take them. He takes three tablets each morning and two at night. he refused to take the two usual ones at 1730 hours as he told them the medication needed to be taken twelve hours apart. She later bought in seven tablets told him he needed extra as he was taking them later in the day. They weren't even his. From what he gathered she was unsure of whose they were and his webster pack only had the two tablets indicated. He refused but what if he'd had dementia. I reported it to the EN and another RN in charge. This is not good enough. Apart from getting him up between 11 and 12 am the place is nice, most of the staff are good and the food is excellent. I don't want to be a whinger but it was hard enough placing him in care without exposing him to such risks. He will get to the stage where he can not communicate and this problem needs to be nipped in the bud. Being the weekend I couldn't take it to the DON but something needs to be done NOW.

Grace Oz · Mar 26, 2006

I am so sorry to read your post. Please do not hesitate to report this nurse to the nurses board in your state. Australia wants only competent health care professionals operating in our country. Taking your concerns only to the EN, RN, or DON, might not prevent the thing you are most concerned about. Only take your concerns to those who have the true, real, and legal power to DO something about the problem. Sometimes, having problems dealt with "in-house", aren't really dealt with satisfactorily. If health facilities are going to employ people from;- anywhere,- it must be essential that those people are right for the job.

Afterall, nurses are there to SERVE those in their care!!!!! Something, sadly, many nurses tend to forget!

I wish you, and your husband, well.

greatshakes · Apr 23, 2006

Hi Grace

Thanks for your post. They had a thorough investigation about hubby's meds and I asked to check out the smarty packs myself. They are just plastic bags on a roll with the pts meds on so it was fine. He has had no problems since but it should not have happened anyway. I am glad to say they are getting him up about 9 am now. I have just put in for a post grad starting July so hope there's a job with my name on. Looking forward to it, excited and a bit apprehensive though. It's a big bad world out there and I am finding allnurses a great help. Incidentally I was quite pleased as one of the South African nurses actually rang me to let me know he had a couple of skin tears and I went up to have a look. I think that's a good start anyway. They were insignificant but the fact they rang me made a difference.

empressiveblue · May 9, 2006

in reply to a few posts where it stated anyone without a paper can do aged care is so not right, where i work everyone must present with their cert iii and police record, the facility up here in nth qld is rated amongst one of the top notch nursing homes and it has a lot to do with very good and caring staff(as we are)maybe apart from one or two who are a bit loud and overpowering but do a great job all the same, and how could just any one walk in and get a job with out any qualifications? i say hats off to everyone that works in this field........................................................................ :nurse: :redpinkhe