Better health and ageing for all Australians

Encouraging Better Practice in Aged Care Initiative

EBPAC Resource Management

The EBPAC initiative aims to encourage and support the uptake of evidence-based, person-centred, better practice in Australian Government subsidised aged care services.

In this section:

Overview

Resource dissemination is an important activity in the promotion of evidence based practice in aged care. There are a number of existing evidence-based guidelines to assist aged care staff in providing appropriate care for residents and people in the community and implement the evidence base in a practical setting. These include clinical guidelines, companions to guidelines, assessment tools etc. EBPAC activities include providing funding to develop and disseminate these resources.

Resource management activities increase the availability of evidence to support clinical practice and resources developed through the evidence translation projects to the aged care sector as recommended by the National Evaluation Report.

The Department is currently developing/updating a number of evidence based resources that when completed will support the aged and community care sector to improve staff knowledge and skills and improve outcomes for aged care recipients.

Current activities include:
  • Restraint Toolkit - The Decision-Making Tool: Responding to Issues of Restraint in Aged Care has been updated to cover both the community and residential aged care settings, and incorporate issues such as falls management and the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. The toolkits were distributed to Australian Government funded residential and community aged care providers nationally in November 2012. In addition, the tools have been published on the Department’s website.
  • Infection Control - Aged Care Companion (booklet, pamphlets and posters) have been developed as companion documents to the Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Health Care, 2010. The National Health Management and Research Council (NHMRC) was engaged to develop an aged care companion to these Guidelines, applicable to both the residential and community aged care settings. The guidelines outline the principles of infection prevention and control in healthcare settings using a risk management approach. The resources will be available to all Australian Government funded residential and community aged care providers in early 2013.
  • Nutrition Manuals for Aged Care - Updates and modifications are being completed by Central Coast Local Health District, to the Best Practice Food and Nutrition Manual for Aged Care Facilities (2004) and the Eating Well booklet (2010). Activities include:
i. revision of the 2004 Manual to reflect contemporary evidence on nutrition and hydration. This work will also incorporate information from a nutritional toolkit which was developed under Round One of EBPRAC program.
ii. further development of the Eating Well Booklet, a resource for carers (paid and unpaid) who work in community services to assist them to recognize the signs of malnourishment in older people living in the community and to work collaboratively to maintain good nutrition.

The manuals will be available to all Australian Government funded residential and community aged care providers in early 2013.
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