What are we waiting for?

Abstract

The clinical education of Australia’s aged care
nurses can no longer be treated as the Cinderella of
nursing’s specialities. It is urgent that ways be
agreed and measures taken to bring this branch of the
profession, and residential aged care nursing in particular,
into mainstream health care services.
There should be no need to describe again the evolving
shape of Australia’s demographic profile between now
and the middle of this century; and no need to prove here
that the ageing bulge is already placing a severe strain on
staffing in the sector. A substantial percentage of the aged
care nursing workforce is nearing retirement and the ratio
of departures to recruits seems set to worsen at the same
time as demand for high quality nursing care escalates.
Important indicators – the number of the most highly
dependent residents has doubled in the past seven years;
compounding co-morbidities are increasingly common
and an estimated 60-80% of residents in residential aged
care facilities (RACFs) have a dementing illness – reveal
the rapidly rising levels of frailty and dependency in the
RACF population.