Considering a student placement in an aged care setting?
Before offering a student placement, it is important to be aware of the potential benefits, challenges and opportunities associated with placements in aged care settings, and ensure adequate planning and preparation occurs to overcome the challenges identified. To explore these concepts further, please watch the following animation about the benefits of placements in aged care settings:
To summarise, benefits include:
- Increased student knowledge about aged related decline.
- Improved skills of the future workforce to work with older people.
This next animation illustrates some of the unique challenges and opportunities supervisors should consider when hosting students in aged care settings.
To summarise, supervisors should:
- Select a suitable placement model
- Manage student attitudes towards placements in aged care settings
- Plan to include adequate depth and breadth of learning experiences
Another challenge that is important to consider is how to manage student learning and exposure to death and dying in the aged care setting.
Of course, with adequate planning and preparation, these challenges can often be overcome, allowing both you and your student to experience the many benefits of hosting students in aged care settings.
The Interprofessional Education in Aged Care (IPEAC) tool kit is a useful resource that allows those working in aged care settings to:
- Identify how to ‘get started’ by connecting with tertiary education providers
- Establish an aged care student placement – planning, orientation, learning opportunities
- Evaluate process and placement, and resources to support various health professions
Allied Health Professions of Australia has a resource that outlines the various allied health professional roles and responsibilities in optimising function and independence in older people
References:
Please Note: References remain valid until superseded by later research. The resources referenced here are regularly reviewed and are considered current and relevant to the topics presented.
- Abbey, Jennifer & Abbey, Brian & Bridges, Pamela & Elder, Ruth & Lemcke, Pam & Liddle, Jacki & Thornton, Robert. (2005). Clinical placements in residential aged care facilities: The impact on nursing students' perception of aged care and the effect on career plans. The Australian journal of advanced nursing: a quarterly publication of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation. 23.
- Annear, M.J., Lea, E., Lo, A. et al. Encountering aged care: a mixed methods investigation of medical students’ clinical placement experiences. BMC Geriatr 16, 38 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-016-0211-8
- Bacon, R., Williams, L. and Grealish, L. (2015), Developing ICM competencies in non‐hospital settings. Nutrition & Dietetics, 72: 54-62. doi:10.1111/1747-0080.12156
- Johnston, C, Newstead, C, Walmsley, s, Lesley MacDonald-Wicks, Associate Professor Pauline Chiarelli (nd) Maximising Allied Health professional placements in aged care: exploring opportunities for future partnerships within the Newcastle and Coast region. Accessed from HETI October 2020 from: https://www.heti.nsw.gov.au/search?query=aged%20care&start_rank=11
- Lea E, Marlow A, Bramble M, Andrews S, Eccleston C, McInerney F, Robinson A. Improving student nurses' aged care understandings through a supported placement. Int Nurs Rev. 2015 Mar;62(1):28-35. doi: 10.1111/inr.12156. Epub 2014 Dec 1. PMID: 25440317.
- Lea, E., Mason, R., Eccleston, C. and Robinson, A. (2016), Aspects of nursing student placements associated with perceived likelihood of working in residential aged care. J Clin Nurs, 25: 715-724. doi:10.1111/jocn.13018
- Lucas, Peter & Mccall, Michael & Lea, Emma & Eccleston, Claire & Crisp, Elaine & Andrews, Sharon & Robinson, Andrew. (2013). "Clinical placements in residential care facilities part 1: positive experiences.". Journal of Paramedic Practice. 5. 400-406. 10.12968/jpar.2013.5.7.400.
- Seaman S, Saunders R, Williams E, Harrup-Gregory J, Loffler H, Lake F, (2017) An examination of students’ perceptions of their interprofessional placements in residential aged care, Journal of Interprofessional Care, 31:2, 147-153, DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2016.1262338
- Stratton B, Lea E, Bramble M, Eccleston C, McCall M, Lucas P, Robinson A. Residential aged care facility clinical placements for undergraduate paramedic students: An evaluation of the Australian experience. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine [Internet]. 2015May4 [cited 2020Oct.25];12(2). Available from: https://ajp.paramedics.org/index.php/ajp/article/view/144
- Wray N, McCall L (2007) Plotting Careers in Aged Care: Perspectives of Medical, Nursing, Allied Health Students and New Graduates, Educational Gerontology, 33:11, 939-954, DOI: 10.1080/03601270701364636
