High demand, high commitment work: What residential aged care staff actually do minute by minute: A participatory action study.

Gibson, D; Willis, E; Merrick, E; Redley, B; Bail, K

High demand, high commitment work: What residential aged care staff actually do minute by minute: A participatory action study.

Gibson, D Willis, E Merrick, E

Redley, B Bail, K

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Publisher:: Wiley
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Nurs Inq, 2022, pp. e12545
Issue Date:: 2022-12-18

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Gibson, D
dc.contributor.author	Willis, E
dc.contributor.author	Merrick, E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4269-6360
dc.contributor.author	Redley, B
dc.contributor.author	Bail, K
dc.date.accessioned	2023-03-28T03:11:21Z
dc.date.available	2022-12-05
dc.date.available	2023-03-28T03:11:21Z
dc.date.issued	2022-12-18
dc.identifier.citation	Nurs Inq, 2022, pp. e12545
dc.identifier.issn	1320-7881
dc.identifier.issn	1440-1800
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/168675
dc.description.abstract	This article explores staff work patterns in an Australian residential aged care facility and the implications for high-quality care. Rarely available minute by minute, time and motion, and ethnographic data demonstrate that nurses and care staff engage in high degrees of multitasking and mental switching between residents. Mental switching occurs up to 18 times per hour (every 3 min); multitasking occurs on average for 37 min/h. Labor process theory is used to examine these outcomes and to explore the concepts of high demand and high commitment as core components of work intensification. These conditions of work result in high levels of cognitive burden and stress on staff in managing the multitasking and mental switching, exacerbated by lack of knowledge about residents associated with labor force casualization. These new interpretations of data in relation to mental and manual labor can contribute to understanding, and, therefore, problem solving, in the aged care sector.
dc.format	Print-Electronic
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Wiley
dc.relation.ispartof	Nurs Inq
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1111/nin.12545
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1110 Nursing
dc.subject.classification	Nursing
dc.title	High demand, high commitment work: What residential aged care staff actually do minute by minute: A participatory action study.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.location.activity	Australia
utslib.for	1110 Nursing
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2023-03-28T03:11:20Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online

Abstract:

This article explores staff work patterns in an Australian residential aged care facility and the implications for high-quality care. Rarely available minute by minute, time and motion, and ethnographic data demonstrate that nurses and care staff engage in high degrees of multitasking and mental switching between residents. Mental switching occurs up to 18 times per hour (every 3 min); multitasking occurs on average for 37 min/h. Labor process theory is used to examine these outcomes and to explore the concepts of high demand and high commitment as core components of work intensification. These conditions of work result in high levels of cognitive burden and stress on staff in managing the multitasking and mental switching, exacerbated by lack of knowledge about residents associated with labor force casualization. These new interpretations of data in relation to mental and manual labor can contribute to understanding, and, therefore, problem solving, in the aged care sector.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/168675