Staffing and Patient Care in Aged Care Homes

Running head:STAFFING AND PATIENT CARE IN AGED CARE HOMES
THE EFFECT OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL’S SHORTAGE ON PATIENT
CARE OFFERED IN AGED CARE FACILITY IN AUSTRALIA
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STAFFING AND PATIENT CARE IN AGED CARE HOMES1
Introduction
As opined by Bradley et al. (2015), the quality of care which is being offered to the
patients greatly depends on a conglomeration of different factors like the treatment methods
which are being used by the healthcare professionals, the qualifications of the same, the number
of staff that the healthcare organizations boast of and others. Hussein et al. (2016) are of the
viewpoint that in the present times because of the large number of health ailments faced by the
elderly patients in Australia the work load of the healthcare professionals had surged up in an
exponential manner. However, as discussed by Zboril-Benson (2016), in the face of the
exponential surge in the work load of the healthcare professionals in the aged care homes of
Australia, the healthcare organizations or the aged care homes have not increased the number of
staff to help the healthcare professionals to fulfill the needs of the patients while offering high
quality treatment services to them. More importantly, it had been seen that because of the
staffing problem faced by the healthcare organizations it had been that the quality of care which
is being offered to the patients had declined in a significant manner (McGilton et al., 2016). This
can be explained on the basis of the fact that the increased workload that the healthcare
professionals are required to shoulder is taking a toll on their abilities to provide quality
treatment services to the patients.
The purpose of this essay is to undertake an analysis of the manner in which staffing
problem affects the quality of care which is being offered in the aged care homes. The paper
firstly introduces the concept of aged care homes and the healthcare services which are being
offered by them. The paper next highlights the staffing issues faced by the aged care homes in
Australia and also the effect of the same on the quality of patient care which is being offered to

STAFFING AND PATIENT CARE IN AGED CARE HOMES2
the elderly patients in these care homes. The paper also undertakes a discussion of the major
factors which has given rise to the staffing issue faced by the aged care homes in Australia.
Lastly, the paper concludes by suggesting the staffing policy that the aged care homes in
Australia need to follow and also suggests adequate implementation measures for the same.
Aged Care Homes
Shihundla, Lebese and Maputle (2016) are of the viewpoint that the aged care homes can
be defined as the care homes for the elderly or for that matter the senior citizens wherein they are
being able to lead their remaining lives with dignity and the required medical help. Adding to
this, Burns, Hyde and Killett (2016) have noted that the elderly patients suffer from different
kinds of health ailments and even are unable to perform the daily tasks which are needed for
their sustenance. Furthermore, it had been seen that the different healthcare organizations
although they offer specialized healthcare treatment facilities to the elderly patients yet have
failed to offer adequate amount of care which is being needed by these individuals on the score
of their age and also the inability of their body to perform their daily tasks (Mozley, 2017). In the
light of these aspects, the differed aged care homes or for that matter the aged care centers have
gained a substantial amount of prominence. More importantly, it had been seen that different
aged care centers take the help of diverse healthcare professionals including professionally
trained registered nurses, doctors and others for offering the required amount of care or treatment
services to the elderly or for that the aged individuals (Lavoie‐Tremblay et al., 2016). However,
recently researchers have clearly shown that one of the most important issues that these aged
care centers in Australia are facing presently can be attributed to the staffing issues that they are
facing which in turn can be attributed to the difficulty in getting adequate number of healthcare
professionals in these aged care homes or centers (Buchan & Seccombe, 2018).

STAFFING AND PATIENT CARE IN AGED CARE HOMES3
Staffing Issue in Aged Care Homes
As discussed by Cooke and Bartram (2015), the kind or for that matter the number of
staff that a particular aged care home or center boasts of greatly influences the quality of care or
aged care services which are being offered by the same. For instance, the aged care homes in
Australia are required to have a specific number of registered nurses, doctors and other
healthcare professionals who would work in tandem to ensure that the healthcare needs of the
elderly people who are residing in the aged care homes are being fulfilled in the best possible
manner (Shin & Hyun, 2015). Furthermore, it had been seen that the nation of England or for
that matter the other nations of the world do not have any particular law or stipulations related to
the number of staffs or the staffing policies that the different aged care homes are required to
follow (Dellefield et al., 2015). In this relation, it needs to be said that the national government
of England and those of the other nations of the world have mandated the qualification criteria
that the healthcare professionals needs to fulfill or for that matter the manner in which the elderly
patients or the individuals are required to treat them yet there are no significant legislations
which dictate the number of registered nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals the
aged care homes are required to have (Feo et al., 2017). This can be explained on the basis of the
fact that the staff requirement of the aged care homes greatly depends on the number or for that
matter the kind of elderly patients that they have and thus it is very difficult for the national
governments or the other regulatory bodies to determine beforehand the number of healthcare
professionals that the aged care homes need to have (Dewing & Dijk, 2016). This difficulty in
determining the number of healthcare professionals that the aged care homes need to have
beforehand had given rise to the issue under discussion here.