The job is all yours

The onus is now on us to ‘age well’ to ensure we are capable of caring for ourselves for as long as we possibly can, Southern Cross University Associate Professor, John Stevens, says.

DPS eNews contacted Professor Stevens after his on-air talk with New South Wales Rural ABC radio yesterday (7 September 2011), where he revealed nursing students Australia-wide have maintained a “relative disinterest” in choosing aged care as a full-time profession after graduation.

With little change seen in the aged care sector, a recent longitudinal study by Professor Stevens replicates one conducted nearly two decades ago, with both studies showing nurses do not want to work with older people.

“Despite government and nursing profession reforms and initiatives to make caring for older people more attractive, the results are identical in every way to the 1992 to 1995 study,” Professor Stevens says. “Not one thing has changed,” he adds.

With Australia reportedly about 10,000 Registered Nurses short, the report, Student nurses’ career preferences for working with older people: A replicated longitudinal survey, appears in the International Journal of Nursing Studies, and shows graduating nursing students “devalue” older people and the work associated with them.

An evaluation of the survey’s results shows 8% of graduating students began their Bachelor of Nursing degrees with the desire to work with older people, but this percentage decreases throughout the course with just three of the 150 participants showing interest in working with the elderly; making aged care the least desired career choice among graduating nurses.

Typical comments from participants which surface in the survey are: “You don’t get to hone your skills in aged care’ and ‘nursing homes are horrible places to work where you get paid a lot less for doing more work.’

Common beliefs among students indicate they believe working with older people would have “negative effects” on their careers.

“Governments really need to rethink how to develop an attractive aged care system.

 “All government reports on ageing and aged care show it is a sector that will be the single biggest issue for the country in coming years,” Professor Stevens says. “Things won’t be as they are now. There will be a lot more people and a lot less carers and resources,” he claims.

As a result of the ageing population, people will be “far more” responsible for their own ageing than the current generation who are able to rely on the Commonwealth to “help them out”, according to Professor Stevens.

He claims one indicator as to why students are reluctant to work with the aged may contribute to workers being underpaid.

But Professor Stevens says money is merely one aspect in understanding why nursing graduates do not believe aged care is an “attractive” workforce.

“Money is just one indicator, it also comes down to how much we value older people and aged care,” he says.

According to Professor Stevens, a new age is upon us as the ageing of Australia’s population rises, as well as the increased demand for health and aged care services.

“I call it the ‘age of age’ paradox. It begs the question; who will be left with the job to care for us when we can’t care for ourselves?” he asks.

Which features do you think will make for an “attractive” aged care system? Are you concerned about who will care for you when you no longer can? Share your opinions in the comment box below.