Download PDF: RAC Communiqué May 2019
In this edition
Editorial
Case Précis: Too Much Too Soon
Commentary #1: The coroner’s recommendations and requirement of organisations to respond
Summary of organisational responses to the coroner’s findings and recommendations
Management of BPSD: A refresher
ResourcesIn the news recently
The ‘Dignity of Risk’ Film Screenings
Editorial
Welcome to our 50th edition of the RAC Communiqué. It is a golden landmark we are very proud to have achieved. It is a double bumper issue being almost three times the length of our usual production, so there is enough material here for the next six months!
This issue revisits eight of our 49 past editions, in part to remind our readers of the value looking back and, in part to encourage using the case studies for education and training. In most part it is to highlight the value of these cases. We have selected content pertinent to the new Aged Care Quality Commission standards. We have matched a past issue and case precis with each of the eight new standards. This should help ease the challenge the sector is facing with the implementation of these new standards.
We also wanted to reinforce the use of the RAC Communiqué as an educational tool and learning aid. To that end we have invited commentaries from a broad range of experts about how this could be achieved.
Penelope Eden, a partner with MinterEllison, examines the role of coronial findings in improving the quality and safety in residential aged care. Basia Diug from the Medical Education Research and Quality Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University explains the need for gaining research literacy knowledge and skills. That is, the ability to identify the difference between facts and an opinion, an essential part of practice these days.
Kerrie Shiell, a practising Clinical Neuropsychologist at Ballarat Health Services looks at how to effectively build knowledge recognising that each staff member will learn in different ways. Margaret Winbolt, a Director with Dementia Training Australia and Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care gives valuable insights into the role of case studies in the education of nurses and care workers. While Tamsin Santos, a practising medical specialist in geriatric medicine provides a ‘how to guide’ for use of case studies in education of medical, allied health and nursing staff. We finish with a personal reflection from our own staff, Carmel Young, about the challenges in providing our readers with the case precis.
Our objective is to assist our readers as the cases and the associate commentaries in each issue of the RAC Communiqué are invaluable teaching and clinical governance resource.
The experts were asked to comment on how to use the past 49 issues for education and to answer the question ‘What advice you would give to the senior staff in RACS about selecting and using the RAC Communiqué cases?
How and why people learn?How do we introduce a topic?How do we set learning goals?How do we select a relevant case?What are the differences in teaching between presenting positive situations (ie right way to do things) or traumatic situations (ie when things go bad)?How does fear impact learning?An approach to reinforce learning?What are some ways to encourage staff to read and discuss the case studies?