CSU has teamed up with three aged care facilities across the region to provide hands-on learning for students. Photo: Charles Sturt University.
Three Riverina aged care facilities have partnered with two CSU lecturers to provide hands-on experiences for university students.
Clinical Educator and Lecturer in Rural Health with Charles Sturt’s Three Rivers Department of Rural Health (DRH) Ms Cassie Biggs and Associate Professor Elyce Green have been leading the project to create work-integrated placements for health students in residential aged care facilities with outreach to other agencies that provide aged care services.
The two Charles Sturt University academics have collaborated with staff at Navorina Nursing Home, Southern Cross Care Orana and Finley Regional Care for research that creates placements that highlight rural aged care careers as an attractive and viable pathway for graduate clinicians.
The research will focus on the social and emotional impacts placing university students in aged care facilities can have from the perspective of the residents.
“Consultation with community members demonstrates that older people value social connectivity above all other care considerations,” Ms Biggs said.
“Health students in aged care have the time and potential to create meaningful connections with residents.
“Evaluation of such placement programs often focuses on outcomes for students but there is limited literature focused on the residents’ experiences of students working and learning in these settings.”
The research is being conducted in facilities in Deniliquin and Finley. The residents will be interviewed, and the concepts of social and emotional well-being, which are reliant on connection, inclusivity, and consultation, will be considered.
The project aims to help design new strategies to engage residents while students are on placement. By better understanding the residents’ perspectives, Ms Biggs said there might be scope to change the nature, duration and intention of student placement in aged care.
“This has the potential to influence the types of social engagement activities offered in residential aged care,” she said.
“Research outcomes could positively influence students to elect aged care as a workplace learning and graduate career option.
“We have the potential to improve the day-to-day lives of aged care residents by placing students in their aged care home.”
Ms Biggs said placements in aged care facilities are also beneficial for students, allowing them time to determine the type of clinician they want to be.
This research is part of the aged care expansion program under the federally-funded Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program, which aims to increase and improve recruitment and retention of healthcare providers in rural practice.
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