Age care in jeopardy as workers quit because of job stress

Dec 1 2008

Australian researchers say job stress is forcing many age care workers to leave and is jeopardising the industry.

The researchers from the University of Melbourne warn that almost a third of registered aged care nurses are contemplating quitting their jobs because of job stress, created by excessive workloads, cost cutting, a hostile work environment and competing role demands.

The study was conducted by the Centre for Human Resource Management at the University of Melbourne and the Australian Nursing Federation and it found that registered nurses in Victoria's aged care sector are "emotionally exhausted" and not committed to their workplace.

The study was based on a survey of over 1,000 registered nurses and personal care workers in Victoria last year and also reveals that aged care facilities need to drastically improve their training and human resource management.

Researchers Associate Professor Leisa Sargent, Professor Bill Harley and Ms Belinda Allen say they found that facilities that provide more training, have rigorous recruitment, selection and performance management practices and have developed grievance procedures benefit from staff who have a more positive attitude toward their work and better physical and mental health outcomes.

According to the researchers workers at these facilities also reported that the quality of care provided for residents was better than at facilities where there were poor human resource management practices and high levels of cost cutting in relation to staffing levels.

Associate Professor Sargent says current Commonwealth funding arrangements for nursing homes, introduced in 1997, have placed pressure on operators to cut costs and Australia's rapidly-ageing population is placing an unprecedented strain on aged-care provision which is likely to continue in coming years and this pressure is likely to further damage the quality of working life for staff and undermine resident care.

The Australian Nursing Federation says there is an urgent need for improvement in working conditions in the aged care sector with nurses under significant stress due to excessive workloads, cost cutting, and hostile work environments.

The report also found medication errors were more likely to occur where there was poorer registered nurse to resident ratios, cost-cutting practices, and higher role conflict.

The report "Working in Aged Care: Medication Practices, Workplace Aggression, and Employee and Resident Outcomes" contains the findings from a survey conducted in 2007 of 1038 members of the ANF (Victorian Branch) working in public, private for profit and private not for profit aged care facilities.

The researchers have received funding from the Australian Research Council to further investigate these findings over the next two years.