Research partners create critical change
Yallambee Clinical Manager Michelle Crosby, MUDRIH researcher and PhD student Fiona McCook and Yallambee Roster Coordinator Janelle Leighton (pictured) are working together, alongside other Yallambee staff, to enhance patient outcomes at the aged care facility.
The story behind a Participatory Action Research (PAR) process underway with School of Rural Health MUDRIH researcher Fiona McCook and Yallambee Aged Care Services has been described by both parties as “serendipitous”.
The collaboration, which began in February and evolved from opportune “connections and conversations,” has certainly proved to be mutually beneficial.
Last year, as the newly appointed Clinical Manager at Traralgon-based Yallambee, Michelle Crosby, identified gaps in the way the service mentored and supervised students and in the strength of its partnerships with Registered Training Organisations (RTOs).
With the support of CEO/DOC Roslyn Hunter, Michelle was able to pursue options to develop and enhance the program at Yallambee
At around the same time Fiona was considering how to approach her PhD and, with a background in teaching, was keen to explore an opportunity in PAR.
“I’ve always been interested in working with people and I have never been one to sit in an ivory tower,” Fiona said, of her attitude to research.
“I was looking for something I could sink my teeth into so when the opportunity arose to work with this preceptor group (at Yallambee) to develop their teaching practice – and understanding of their teaching practice – in order to create change , I jumped at it.”
Michelle shares Fiona’s passion for creating quality learning environments. “I’m not an academic though so it took me a little while to understand what we were going to enter into with Fiona but the feedback already, after nine sessions, has been so positive,” she said.
That feedback, from both staff and students, indicates the learning sessions – and the changes which have arisen from them – are lifting staff morale, transforming Yallambee’s workplace culture, enriching students’ experiences and, ultimately, laying the foundations for a higher quality of care.
The process has been genuinely collaborative. “Yallambee preceptors developed their own objectives for the preceptor training and for the student placement program,” said Fiona, “this was all done by the team.”
The learning sessions, facilitated by Fiona and involving Yallambee’s leadership team, took on “a life of their own, which is exactly how I hoped it would go,” she said.
The outcomes, evident already, are testament to the enthusiasm with which staff embraced the opportunity to involve themselves in the process, according to Michelle.
“There has been a real flow-on effect, with team leaders letting their people know ‘this is what we now expect in our unit’ and they have met no resistance at all,” she said.
Critical to the change process underway at Yallambee has been an increased level of collaboration with their RTO’s, GEST and TAFE, whose students undertake placements at the aged care hostel .
As part of a shared commitment to improving student experiences, both organisations have “come on board” and Michelle said she hoped for the same level of co-operation next year when Federation Training students commence placements at Yallambee.
Key initiatives to stem from the PAR process have included enhancing the orientation process for students and ensuring reflections and feedback in students’ competency books are more comprehensive. This has also helped Gippsland Employment Skills Training (GEST) and TAFE teachers to better track students’ progress from each rotation.
“Each team leader now provides a constructive report to students at the end of their rotation in that unit, providing feedback on what a student might need to address and how they can do that, to ensure things are being done correctly,” said Roster Coordinator Janelle Leighton .
Michelle said this process also provided valuable insights into the most effective ways to teach students.
Additional components have also been built into Yallambee’s orientation procedures. “Team leaders now talk to students about their own journeys and students come in to have this orientation before their placement begins,” said Michelle. “We have also revamped our orientation folder for the next round of students.”
Janelle said all of the changes evolving from the PAR process had collectively served to boost morale.
“Instead of there being a sense of ‘here we go again’ before placements commence, the culture has really shifted,” she said. “The supervision is better, the debriefings are more regular…this is seen as an opportunity now and the staff are taking pride in the process.”
Michelle said that sort of change was crucial to promoting aged care as a career path, respecting the complex responsibilities inherent in aged care and helping to develop a bank of good students for future recruitment.
For Fiona, the learning journey has been reciprocal.
“This has been a complete eye opener for me, to see what a fantastic job the people here do, and their commitment and passion,” she said. “What has emerged for me also is how much they can do all of this themselves – the skills and knowledge are there, it has just been about raising awareness of teaching and learning issues and building confidence in their ability to create an effective learning environment.”