Background and Aims
Staff morale and stress are at an all-time high as workloads increase with more people accessing aged care services and new policies are implemented to regulate aged care in response to the Royal Commission. At the same time, structured management career progression opportunities are limited. Staff at St Basils have also called for a more effective distribution of their skills and experience at work.
This project aimed to address the calls for better career progression opportunities in aged care, the attraction of management personnel with the right capabilities for the role and responding with ways to increase workplace retention and turnover, while also improving the quality of care experienced by older Australians living in residential aged care homes.
What We Did
This study co-designed, trailed and evaluated an innovative role matrix (later named: the Dyad House Leadership Model) that re-defined role scopes, accountabilities and communication channels. In co-designing this model, we unpacked job tasks to release capacity across all roles in a safe manner, allowing for more engagement with residents at sites and providing more meaningful roles. Importantly the model was underpinned by strong communication lines and a clinical governance process that is co-created with key stakeholders. This model also provided clearer career pathways for all staff and was underpinned by a strong clinical governance process that was co-designed by stakeholders (including staff, residents, and families) through a series of interviews, focus groups, documentation analysis and observations. The resulting model uncovered the desire to trial a “dyad leadership style” within our organisation. This meant that there was a clinical and non-clinical leader assigned to each area and that the role boundaries of those positions were firmed up to enable its success.
Outcomes
By tightening up the role boundaries of all positions, we were able to establish clearer reporting lines and responsibilities, which addressed complaints from registered nurses of widening job scope and allowed us to better manage the pressure of clinical supervision responsibilities on site. We also co-designed an IT solution which was developed and assists our organisation in embedding the model into the ongoing practice within St Basil’s structure. Findings revealed staff satisfaction improved as well as their perceptions of career opportunities. Although clinical staff did perceive non-clinical leadership as a threat at times, by the end of the project, the clinical and non-clinical leaders were working well together and both reported improved communication and teamwork. Families reported improved communication lines and happiness, and resident satisfaction improved along, along with residents, staff and families’ perceptions of quality of care.
Impact on Aged Care and Workforce
This project provides the broader aged care sector with an innovative model to manage staff capacity, burnout and turnover that may be replicated across the sector. In addition, this project has the potential to change the architecture of the aged care workforce model by providing clearer career progression opportunities and greater role clarity, which are established as key predictors of employee turnover in aged care.
Resources Developed
We are happy to discuss and collaborate with other organisation that are interested in the project findings.
Next Steps
We are now looking to build a learning academy to build on these findings and apply for an ARC linkage in the future.
