Change and innovation in aged care – exploring the many challenges and opportunities for implementation

An article written by Dr Alice Windle, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Aged care is a dynamic sector with a great deal of change and innovation going on. This is being driven by various factors including demographic shifts, technological advancements, growing recognition of the rights and expectations of older people who receive care, and policy reforms spurred by the Royal Commission. Supporting change in aged care requires an understanding of the key factors that can help or hinder implementation in this setting.

Our research team at ARIIA (Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia), conducted a scoping review which included 193 papers identifying barriers and enablers to implementation in aged care. These were grouped into five main categories of factors:

• People factors (including stakeholder attitudes and capabilities)
• Innovation factors (related to the design of the innovation, its flexibility and fit)
• Organisational context factors (such as workforce capacity, other resources and organisational culture)
• Relational factors (collaboration, communication and leadership), and
• Implementation actions (implementation strategies and stakeholder engagement).

Based on the findings from our scoping review, we are developing an implementation readiness assessment tool, to support organisations to identify potential challenges, and best plan their strategies for successful implementation. We are calling on service providers, leaders and consumers from across the aged care sector (plus researchers) to help us select the most important factors to include in the tool. Please complete our survey before July 31 to have input!

We’re also working on delving deeper into specific aspects of implementation, with the aim of developing practical tools and strategies tailored to aged care settings, such as:

• leadership
• organisational culture,
• champions as change agents,
• implementing innovations with older people from diverse and marginalised communities,
• the impact of people’s attitude and capabilities on implementation,
• collaboration and communication, and
• stakeholder engagement.

If you’d like to know more about the findings from our scoping review, about the factors that can influence implementation in aged care. Read our free, open-access paper available in JBI Evidence Implementation.

Plus keep an eye out for our forthcoming related papers in the same journal.

By assessing barriers and enablers at the outset, organisations can improve the likelihood of successful implementation, to continue innovating and improving care for older people.

ARIIA is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. We offer training, industry linkage programs, and evidence summaries aimed at fostering innovation and implementation in aged care. For more details, visit the ARIIA website.

Authors

Dr Alice Windle

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia