The UTAS Faculty of Health Science, Mt St Vincent Nursing Home and Therapy Centre Inc. (Ulverstone) and Rosary Gardens (Southern Cross Care, Hobart) have signed Memorandums of Agreement to address the needs of medical and nursing students, aged care professionals and aged-care facility residents.
The partnerships will see the establishment of a new Teaching Aged Care Facility at Mt St Vincent and begin the implementation of student placement programs at both Mt St Vincent and Rosary Gardens.
$1.4 million Commonwealth Funding has been allocated to build the Teaching Aged Care Facility in Ulverstone, which will have video conferencing, a training room, research offices, a computer lab and a student common room that will also be available to the wider central coast community.
More than 60 medical, nursing and paramedic students’ from the UTAS Schools of Medicine and Nursing and Midwifery will then take aged care clinical placements at the South and North West facilities this year.
A key focus of the placements will be to support students to develop their knowledge and skills in caring for people with dementia, in an inter-professional engagement where they share experiences of learning and teaching.
The partnerships are an initiative of the UTAS Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre’s Teaching Aged Care Facility (TACF) program, which sees improving the capability of the aged-care clinical workforce as a key priority. Led by UTAS’ Professor Andrew Robinson, the TACF Program began its first phase in 2011 with funding from the University, the Department of Health and Aging and aged care industry partners.
Dean of the UTAS Faculty of Health Science, Professor Denise Fassett, said the resident population in aged care is rapidly moving to higher levels of dependency, with an associated increase in care needs.
“Our research into the issues of aged care reveals that due to a complex mix of individual, team and organisational capability issues, aged care facilities struggle to provide students with a positive placement experience - the foundation of future careers in aged care,” Prof Fassett said.
“While our previous research has demonstrated highly effective strategies to build the capacity of staff ‘on the floor’ to provide quality aged care placements, it also highlights that aged care organisations often struggle to effectively support the new arrangements.
“This is where developing these partnerships between UTAS, Rosary Gardens and Mt St Vincents in this Wicking program will help prepare us for a more positive and productive future for the aged care sector,” she said.
Image: Pictured at the Ulverstone signing event are (back) Professor Andrew Robinson, Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, Mt St Vincent CEO Yvonne Kronkamp; (front,l-r) , Head of UTAS School of Medicine Professor James Vickers and Chairman of the Board at Mt St Vincent, Tony Muir.