Refresher aims to reduce emergency admissions
More than 30 aged care workers in the Bundaberg region are now better equipped to respond to clinical care scenarios, thanks to three refresher workshops held at CQUniversity this week.
Qualified staff working in residential aged care facilities attended the skills training workshops, hosted by CQU’s nursing staff as a direct response to industry needs.
CQUniversity nursing teacher Joy Matthews said the sessions helped refresh the professional skills of existing and new-to-service staff in basic areas that they may not previously have had much exposure to in different types of clinical care scenarios.
“This was a pilot project resulting from industry requests for support for an identified need,” Ms Matthews explained.
“The Bundaberg Emergency Department, Residential Aged Care Support Service (RASS) and the managers of local Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACF) requested education and clinical skill support for catheter care,” she said.
"Every month a number of older adults are transferred by ambulance to the emergency department for a catheter change, which in essence is a simple clinical skill well within the scope of qualified nurses, both Registered and Enrolled nurses.
"These hands-on workshops have provided the aged care staff with an opportunity to refresh skills in a simulated environment, using our nursing laboratories and the manikins to practice safely. Ultimately the nurses updated their skills to improve care and health outcomes for our older adults and in turn this should help ease pressure on our emergency department."
Ms Matthews said the average length of time in the ED for a procedure such as a catheter change was 12 hours.
"Enabling our aged care staff means our older adults can choose to have treatment in their own home, avoiding all the potential problems that face older people in a busy emergency department."
Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service RASS nurse Samantha Matthews said the workshops not only taught clinical skills but provided contemporary theory and best-practice to help clinicians maintain and problem-solve a resident with an indwelling device.
"This will not only reduce the amount of presentations related to performing a procedure but it will reduce the presentations of IDC-related complications such as trauma and infection which currently accounts for a significant percentage of RACF presentations to the Emergency Department.”
Ms Matthews said she hoped that after the success of this week’s workshops, more would be considered in the future.
“The hope certainly is that this could lead to future workshops to help further improve the load on the public health system.”
