Aged care worker reveals what the job is REALLY like - detailing her 'exhausting' tasks before she goes home 'broken and shattered' every day
- An aged care worker has written a confronting account of her average workday
- Tahlia Stagg, from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, shared her post on Friday
- In the post Ms Stagg describes being heavily understaffed and overworked
Tahlia Stagg, from Coffs Harbour, uploaded her post titled, 'The Aged Care Worker - a day in the life,' on Friday
A confronting description by a young woman on social media has revealed what it is really like to work in aged care.
Tahlia Stagg, from Coffs Harbour, uploaded her post titled, 'The Aged Care Worker - a day in the life,' on Friday.
Her post describes the draining working conditions Ms Stagg and her colleagues endure on a daily basis due to being understaffed.
Ms Stagg's describes an average 'exhausting' day at her workplace beginning at 6:30am when she must get 11 residents ready for breakfast at 8am.
'That's eight minutes and 18 seconds per resident,' Ms Stagg says.
'In eight minutes, I must use a lifter to transfer each resident from their bed to the toilet, from the toilet to the shower, wash them, shave them, dry them, moisturise them, dress them, comb their hair, brush their teeth, apply hearing aids, dress their wounds, transfer them to a wheelchair, tidy their room, make their bed, empty their bin and wheel them to the dining room.'
Once this is done, she then focuses her attention on the remainder of the residents she looks after who are bedridden and cannot communicate.
'They have not yet been cared for, because in a ward of 24 high care residents, 4 nurses can only do so much,' she said.
'Now it's 9am, also known as code brown o'clock. 24 residents, and you better believe they all want the toilet at once. As one nurse does the medication round, and another collects the breakfast trays, the remaining two are running, answering multiple buzzers and toileting several residents.'
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At 9:30am the nurses are supposed to get a break but Ms Stagg says this regularly doesn't happen and, if it does, she feels guilty as she drinks her tea.
With break over, the nurses then have an hour and 20 minutes to attend the residents hygiene before they need to start preparing for lunch - or six minutes and 15 seconds per resident.
'This of course is best case scenario, but throw in a fall, a broken hip, a skin tear, a death, a vomit, an upset visitor, or an accidental poop of the pants, and the time left for each resident is shortened.'
This hectic pace keeps up throughout the day as Ms Stagg describes trying to somehow type up her notes between other non-stop tasks - this paperwork must be done to ensure funding, she says.
Her post describes the draining working conditions Tahlia and her colleagues endure on a daily basis due to being understaffed
Ms Stagg then finishes the post with an impassioned defence of aged care workers.
'The media will have you believe that aged care workers are negligent, incompetent, and lacking in skills,' she said.
'They don't see us hold the hands of a man with Parkinson's to ease his shakes just for a moment. They don't see us sing quietly to their favourite old song as we feed them breakfast.'
'They don't see us go home as a broken, shattered human who has seen more in one day than a lot of people will see ever.'
'We are working harder than you know. And feeling like your best is just not good enough, sucks! We are not incapable, we are pressed for time!'
'The majority of us have good hearts and look after and love your family members as our own.'
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