Excellence - New Zealand Aged Care Association

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UPfront THE CEO’S MESSAGE CEO MARTIN TAYLOR CEO’s Message NZACA’s New Online Magazine The New Zealand Aged Care Association’s magazine Excellence in Care has undergone a transformation with the New Year and moved into the future. Moving to an online format we hope to make it more accessible to members and their staff. Our goal is to provide the best possible content to support you and your business. Our goal is to provide the best possible content to support you and your business The content of this magazine and future issues has also undergone a face lift. We are looking to provide up-to-date information, support and articles that are topical and relevant to our sector. New regular sections of this magazine include elder law information from Barrister Wendy Aldred, “Words from the Wise” sees aged care consultant Judith Johnson share her knowledge and experience from decades of working, owning and consulting to the sector, and “Bugs and More” has information from infection control consultant Judy Forrest. We are very proud to include the “Research Round Up” section offering some of the latest clinical articles specifically on aged care. We hope this section will be of great benefit to your nursing staff. Excellence in Care will be published three times a year and sent directly to your inbox. We would also like to hear from members with suggestions on topics you would like us to cover or articles you may wish to have published. We hope you enjoy the new magazine. VAN INTERIORS mobility | seating | commercial NZ’S LEADING VAN INTERIOR SPECIALISTS www.jel.co.nz | freephone 0800 274427 | email info@jel.co.nz 2. Excellence in CARE APRIL 2013
Feature WORDS FROM THE WISE WORDS FROM THE WISE What makes me cringe? By Judith Johnson, Consultant to the Aged Care Sector When asked to write an item on the above topic, the first thing that came to mind was ‘attitude’ – how the attitude of various people throughout the aged care sector (and beyond) impacts on the actual care delivered, and it is usually their attitude that makes me cringe. For example, the resident backing away whilst being fed from the spoon of food as it was too hot – the carer didn’t consider that, or possibly didn’t want to, as she was more interested in getting the task done. (A spoonful on the carer’s forearm will hopefully keep food temperature to the fore of her mind when feeding residents, and the consequences ought to influence her attitude, should the incident occur again.) There are millions of hours of excellent care delivered to residents every year, but how often, as management, do we turn a ‘blind eye’ (consciously or not) to the attitude of some we deal with? Should we accept an assessment of a resident which we believe to be inaccurate, or routinely go through appeals to the assessment agency, so causing delays to being adequately paid? Delays may save government money, but is the attitude that this is acceptable appropriate? In the interim it is very difficult to deliver the higher level of care on the lower income and if it is being delivered to the client in question, how much is it eroding the care delivered to others in the facility? Should we accept the staff attitude when they become focused on the ‘task’ and how quickly tasks can be done, rather than on the individual resident they are caring for? Why does the resident get persuaded to go to bed at 7.30pm, instead of attending the evening’s entertainment – which she wanted to do? I believe it was so the staff could ‘finish their tasks earlier’. The attitude that the residents are just another chore to be attended to makes me cringe. If you can’t happily wait tables don’t be a waiter. If you can’t happily deliver care then don’t be a carer. It sounds simple but the reality is, as managers, we often have staff whose attitudes do not promote good care delivery or happy teams. The reason residents are not always treated as individuals usually comes down to attitude. Although it may be plastered over the walls that residents are to be treated with respect and as individuals (another tick in the audit box), does it influence the behaviour of the carer? Many studies have been undertaken on the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, and in the 1970s there was doubt about whether attitudes could predict behaviour. However, it is now considered that attitudes do contribute to behaviour and those attitudes can be influenced. The theory of reasoned action assumes that people deliberate about the wisdom of a given course of action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). Research shows that when people are motivated and opportunity is high, they engage in the effort necessary to retrieve specific details from memory. However, when people are less motivated or under time pressure, they resort to their overall attitude to the situation. For example, I am in a hurry and need to transfer Resident G. My attitude is that I am strong enough to do it on my own without a hoist, so I do that. As management, you would want me to stop and consider what harm I could be doing to the resident and/or myself (whatever motivates), and that I have the opportunity to access equipment (hoist) to undertake the transfer. If I have received education and have become competent at using the hoist, I will not consider it to be 3. Excellence in CARE APRIL 2013
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Excellence - New Zealand Aged Care Association

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