SUMMARY - Safe Medications Management project: Key issues and ...

Clarity of legalities, and simplicity of guidance on medication management, as well as clarityaround nurses’ delegations to, and roles of, personal care workers in medicationmanagement are all necessary to improve the safety and efficiency of medicationmanagement systems.There is a growing interest in researching and furthering intersectoral collaboration toachieve greater consistency and shared “good practice” in managing medication for, andwith, older people.The literature suggests the following gaps in medication management need to be addressed:Consistent, authoritative and widely applied guidance for all players in medicationmanagement, on systems and practices which promote safe, effective and efficientmedication management.Effective multidisciplinary medication review and monitoring systems to assist medicationmanagement players to identify and address risk and problem areas, and to benchmarkpractice across the aged care sectors.Consistent clinical governance systems in both residential and community careorganisations, which would bring the guidance, the medication systems, and theirevaluation and improvement together.2.2.3. Workforce Issues Documents2.2.3.1. Government DocumentsThe Productivity Commission Annual Reports on Government Services – Aged Care chapters -presented useful industry profiles and some workforce statistics for consecutive years, along withsome commentary on changing factors in the aged care environment.Release of the Draft Report in January 2011 on its Inquiry - Caring for Older Australians -providesfurther confirmation of previous findings (and the anecdotal evidence provided to the consultantson key workforce issues through the survey), particularly:problems of staff supply,recruitment and retention, and training, contributed to by low status/image and inequitable(compared with acute hospitals) pay and conditions in the aged and community sectors.The draft report also points to an exacerbation of these problems as the community ages, and theavailable pool of younger workers declines, and notes the dominant influence of regulatory andcompliance approaches on the aged care service culture.These findings are consistent with those identified in the workforce issues section of the Report ofthe Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration on Residential andCommunity Aged Care in Australia, and with the 2001 Final Report of the Victorian Department ofHuman Services’ Nurse Recruitment and Retention Committee.22