Although many people join the aged care industry because they want to make a difference in people’s lives, some factors can impact job satisfaction. High workloads and administrative paperwork are the biggest concerns when it comes to aged care staffing.
Residential care workers attribute the high workload to inadequate staffing levels and the high care needs of residents. Other areas of concern are the substitution of registered nursing staff with younger, unqualified workers and care workers having to take on clinical responsibilities.
New hires overwhelmed with the high workload cannot devote enough time to their patients or support their coworkers. The psychological stress of seeing their patients’ condition deteriorate (especially those with dementia and cancer) is also challenging.
Poor pay, lack of opportunities for career progression and insecure employment due to loosely drafted contracts are other factors leading to job dissatisfaction and attrition.
And, despite the government’s recent announcement of an additional $17.7 billion in funding for aged care, it has stopped short of guaranteeing training of care workers to a minimum Certificate III level.
Given the increased care needs of older residents, this can be a critical shortcoming. With the average age of residents rising to 80 years, up from 55 twenty years ago, residents demand physical care, and mobility assistance besides help with normal tasks like bathing, washing and grooming.
However, aged care workers, particularly those with less experience, lack the skills to provide such specialised care. This increases the burden on senior staff, who end up working longer hours, increasing their risk of fatigue and burnout.
Worse, administrative overheads in the form of never-ending paperwork prevent caregivers from spending enough time with their patients, regularly monitoring their health, or responding quickly in an emergency.
Not rushing aid to seniors in times of need could sometimes prove fatal.
As with slips and falls.
As per statistics reported by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention):
- Each year, at least 3 million older people end up in emergency rooms for fall injuries every year
- Hip fractures hospitalise at least 300,000 older people each year
- Falling sideways causes over 95% of hip fractures
- Falls not detected in time could even lead to dehydration and hypothermia.
While it may appear that adding more resources to fill gaps in inadequate aged care staffing is the only way to improve workplace conditions for caregiving staff, this may only be half of the solution.
eazense Powered by SOFIHUB an assistive technology device, provides the other half of the solution by making carers more productive and relieving them of unnecessary tasks.
eazense is a passive, real-time fall detection system for the elderly based on new unique radar sensor technology with AI.
Here’s what this radar sensor does:
- Provides live fall detection (including low impact falls) and detects the presence of multiple occupants in a room without the need for a wearable
- Constantly tracks body position
- Detects, records, and logs activity in a room, from live fall detection to irregular movement without using cameras
- Notifies caregivers and central care teams via the SOFIHUBCloud Portal, if certain levels of activity are outside of normal routines, which allows them to respond immediately
Seniors can live with freedom and dignity, knowing that the eazense will have aid rushed to them in case of an emergency.
For caregivers, it saves time and reduces the number of unnecessary visits, resulting in significantly lower healthcare costs.
eazense provides carers with an opportunity to finish pending paperwork and other administrative tasks and make more efficient use of their time.
Technology solutions like eazense make up for gaps in aged care staffing by reducing caregiver requirements and helping workers focus on high priority tasks. This improves the workplace conditions of aged care staff, resulting in happier employees and lower attrition rates.
Visit SOFIHUB to know more about eazense.