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

Department of Health and Ageing documents provided information on Aged Care legislation andstandards. There were also some State/Territory health authority documents, particularly fromVictoria, which outlined the role of the department in aged care, jurisdiction over residentialfacilities which do not fall under the national Aged Care Act, and staffing guidance, frameworksand indicators for quality in their public sector residential aged care facilities (which also fall underthe national Aged Care Act).The Department of Education, Science and Training, (predecessor to the current Department ofEducation, Employment and Workplace Relations), commissioned the National Review of NursingEducation, which examined a wide range of workforce and education matters. It commissioned areview Australian Aged Care Nursing: A Critical Review which examined:the aged care workforce profile;future demand and supply;education and training;recruitment and retention in the overall aged care workforce.There was a substantial body of documents from national education, training, and employeerelations departments and authorities. The most current of these were detailed curriculadeveloped and regularly reviewed by the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Councilfor Certificates III and IV in Aged Care, Health Services Assistance and Enrolled Nursing.Medication management has not been a core unit in these courses, and this has contributed tovariable skills and training needs of those working in the field.The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia intends that all Enrolled Nurses will haveundertaken approved study in medication administration, and they note that “this will require arange of strategies to ensure a consistent scope of practice across the Enrolled Nurse workforce”(NMBA, Enrolled Nurses and Medicine Administration: Explanatory Note).Studies and reports by, and for, the National Nursing and Nursing Education Taskforce (N 3 ET)identify and address factors for current shortages in health workforce, recruitment and retentionstrategies through e.g. Myth Busters, and implementation of recommendations from the NationalReview of Nursing Education including:instituting qualifications and suitability checks for personal care workers,working towards consistent regulation of nursing;collaboration for improvement in aged care;developing a national decision making framework for nurses; andintroducing consideration of scopes of practice for nurses.The National Health Workforce Taskforce identifies work programs which would have addressedall the following workforce planning issues which are as relevant to aged care as to the rest of thehealth and community services sectors. For example:23