Resources

​​Dr Kate Barnett, author of the Technology Roadmap for the Australian Aged Care Sector, discusses how we rarely see technology as a part of an ongoing reform process, probably because it has not been central to the traditional design and delivery of care in the Australian aged care system. She discusses how consumer expectations are changing with increased demands for immediacy and for personalisation of services, and that portals are becoming increasingly widespread, and are now part of the aged care ecosystem.​

Given Australia’s ageing population and a growing demand for aged care staff, preventing occupational burnout within residential aged care facilities will continue to be a major challenge for the sector into the future. Researchers from Swinburne University explore some of the unique stressors faced by this workforce and suggest how organisations might address them to improve job satisfaction and worker retention.

Judith Leeson reflects on her own career pathway and how there are similarities with that of many workers in community and residential aged care. Reflecting on how people often learn informally as they work, Judith writes to encourage care workers to break out of their comfort zone and consider embarking on a new learning journey.

Dr Merran Cooper, CEO of Touchstone Life Care, describes the benefits of, and barriers to, introducing digital technologies into the aged care setting, highlighting that research has begun into the use of technology to improve communication between elderly people, their carers, and aged care providers.

Christy Hunt, ELDAC’s Workforce Development Manager, describes some of her team’s initiatives for improving the palliative care skills and knowledge of the aged care workforce.

Rosemary Fisher and colleagues from Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Melbourne, introduce the Tell Touch application – an effective digital health communication platform for complaints and feedback handling in aged care homes. The successful implementation of Tell Touch shows the potential for technology to transform the aged care service delivery model.

Chinese-Australian informal carers play a crucial role in maintaining people with dementia at home for as long as possible, but they face challenges in accessing dementia care education programs. Professor Lily Xiao of Flinders University describes the Chinese iSupport program and its freely accessible resources now available to support Chinese-Australian home-based carers.

John Perkins, CEO and Founder of Checked in Care talks about the emergence of customer experience platforms in aged care, and how they are bringing benefits in aged care that have been experienced by other industries for over a decade.

Despite a much broader adoption of telehealth across Australia in the past few years, there remain questions about the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of increased telehealth uptake. In this blog, Emeritus Professor Anthony Maeder explores what these issues might mean for telehealth in the aged care context. 

Experienced aged and disability care worker Sarah-Kaye Page provides ideas on how staff and family might use formal and more spontaneous music activities to improve the lives of older people in their care.