Preparing for an aged care workforce

Resthaven is the lead organisation in the research initiative titled ‘Preparing an Aged Care Workforce: Building the Model for Teaching and Research in Aged Care (TRACS)’. Key partners include the University of Adelaide (Faculty of Health Sciences) and TAFE SA.

The TRACS project provides an opportunity for Resthaven to focus on building workforce and organisational capacity while developing the organisation as a centre for learning, teaching and research by bringing together strong academic and clinical leadership.

There are five key activity areas to the TRACS project:

• Refining research agenda
• Informing curriculum development at tertiary institutions
• Creating learning opportunities for aged care staff and students
• Identifying skills of clinical staff
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the TRACS model and sharing information with the aged care/academic sector

The project not only focuses on clinical care, but also on lifestyle, preventative health care, health promotion and partnerships – providing a greater insight into the holistic care and service model.

A ‘Teaching and Research Framework’ has been developed and adapted over the past year, in collaboration with Resthaven staff, universities, the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, and key external stakeholders.

The framework is designed to describe Resthaven’s teaching and research in aged care model, and to highlight the professional opportunities available within the aged care industry.

Once finalised, Resthaven plans to use the project as part of usual policy and procedure to ensure it remains useful in the future.

For more information about the Teaching and Research in Aged Care (TRACS) project, contact Simon Pavelic at spavelic@resthaven.asn.au