Student Training in Aged Care
What Factors in Students Training Enhance Retention
Post Placement in the Aged Care Sector?
What Factors in Students Training Enhance Retention
Post Placement in the Aged Care Sector?
Thanks to medical research, better provision of medical assistance and increased lifestyle options, individuals are living longer and in better health than previous generations; however, the Australian population continues to age, largely due to decreasing birth rates and increased life expectancy. Not surprisingly, this will have an impact on the health care system. Specifically, the aged care sector of healthcare requires committed and competent workers to meet workplace needs. Unfortunately, Fagerberg & Ekman's (1997) study (as cited in Abbey et al., 2006) shows that the number of nursing graduates willing to assume employment in the aged care sector is alarmingly low. For one or more reasons, it appears that many students are either unwilling to enter this sector or are unlikely to continue in this sector over time. Studies conducted by Marsland & Hickey (2003), Moyle, (2003), Happel (2002), and The Australian Department of Health and Aging (2002) have already demonstrated some of the contributing factors of this phenomenon, to include insufficient geriatric content, discouraging quality of clinical placement, and inadequately competent teachers in nursing education programs (as cited in Abbey et al., 2006 ). The proposed research study will attempt to gain the viewpoints of nursing trainees and their supervisors regarding the influence of their teachers, the education process, and the placement experience as it relates to enhancing or diminishing post placement retention within the aged care sector. The study will seek to identify similarities in experience suggestive of what elements dissuade a student from employment in an age care facility, as well as what can be done to reverse or compensate for these elements. Towards this purpose, the study will ask several questions regarding perceived stressors, needs and expectations of students during training, and how trainers can better address these needs. In order to meet the persistent need of nurses willing and able to specialize in aged care, a quick address of this issue is required.
Aims and Objectives
Nursing undergraduates typically view aged care as an unsatisfactory specialty option, resulting in their dissuasion from seeking employment in the aged care sector. The proposed research study will explore the various factors contributing to this dissuasion, toward the purpose of discovering ways in which to prevent dissuasion and encourage nursing graduates to pursue a career in aged care.
A Brief Overview of the Relevant Literature in This Field
Every experience and student-educator interaction has a marked impact -- either positive or negative -- on the student's comprehensive learning experience, and henceforth upon his or her decisions for future involvement in the medical field. In recent years, numerous articles have discussed what factors influence students' decisions to withdraw from or avoid nursing in the aged care sector, to include a lack of sufficient geriatric content, incompetent instruction regarding geriatric care, and poor quality clinical placements within nursing education programs (Abbey et al., 2006; The Australian Department of Health and Aging, 2002; Happel, 2002; Marsland & Hickey, 2003; & Moyle, 2003).
A recent article by Abby et al. (2006) discusses how many nursing students are reluctant to work in an aged care facility, for numerous reasons. These reasons include -- but are not limited to -- erroneous assumptions about their underlying skills, a lack of orientation prior to placement, lower levels of compensation, compromised autonomy, and a lack of opportunity for career advancement. It is worth noting, however, that the sample group for this particular study -- 14 nursing students and registered nurses -- was relatively small. In order to determine the legitimacy of the study's results, and also to address potential gaps in the research, a much larger sample is required.
Literature by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (2002) examines the contributing factors of students' dissatisfaction with aged care placements, in addition to potential incentives for graduates to pursue a career in aged care. In a government survey of 300 healthcare professionals, the following factors were cited as discouraging involvement in the aged care sector:
Low wages.
An absence of current specialists.
A lack of educational support for nurses interested in aged care.
A lack of literature/documentation regarding the aged care specialty.
Similarly, Happell (2002) discusses a survey of 793 students aimed at determining what factors contribute to their negative perception of the aged care sector. These factors include -- but are not limited to -- the abundance of part-time employees in aged care, insufficient program coordination, and limited opportunities for career advancement in the aged care sector.
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