Quality Standards Resource Centre

This resource discusses how dementia impacts communication abilities, including memory and language challenges. It offers practical strategies for enhancing conversations and maintaining connections, emphasising the role of speech pathologists in supporting communication. The resource provides guidance for family, friends, and caregivers to create dementia-friendly environments.

This resource describes the ISBAR communication tool—Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation—used to improve safety during handovers in clinical settings. It includes adaptable resources like fact sheets and lanyard cards to support consistent, structured information transfer.

This resource was developed by a state/territory government or organisation and therefore its applicability and usefulness may be limited.

This guide focuses on collaboration and multidisciplinary care for older adults, particularly in residential aged care. It outlines the benefits of team-based care, effective team structures, shared goals, defined roles, building trust, communication, and measurable processes to improve health outcomes. It provides practical tips for effective teamwork and highlights the importance of coordinating care among various healthcare professionals.

This resource explains the purpose of a goals of care document, which outlines a person’s medical treatment goals and end of life care preferences. It describes how healthcare providers create and upload these documents to health records, supporting informed decision-making and access to care preferences.

This resource provides guidance on using accurate, respectful, and non-stigmatising language when discussing dementia. It emphasises avoiding negative terms, promoting dignity, and listening to individuals' preferences. It includes suggestions for talking about dementia symptoms, behaviour, and the impacts of dementia on individuals and their families, promoting understanding and reducing discrimination.

This resource guides providers in identifying and setting goals of care with patients through shared decision-making. It fosters collaboration between patients, family, and healthcare teams to clarify expectations and establish personalised clinical and personal care objectives.

This resource may apply to healthcare contexts outside of aged care. Please consider the applicability of this resource to your care setting. This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This resource focuses on structured clinical handover processes to improve communication during patient care transitions. It highlights the importance of standardising handover procedures to make sure relevant information is effectively communicated, reducing errors and enhancing patient safety, especially during care transfers in healthcare settings, including aged care. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This resource provides tools and guidance on improving clinical communication to enhance patient safety. It focuses on key communication touchpoints, such as handovers, decision-making, and care transitions. Designed to support healthcare providers, it offers practical strategies to reduce errors and improve outcomes in aged care and other healthcare settings. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This resource provides information on a free translation service for government-subsidised aged care providers, enabling communication in languages other than English. It helps aged care providers reach diverse communities, including culturally and linguistically diverse individuals, First Nations people, and those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, supporting culturally inclusive care. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This resource provides information on a free translation and interpreting service funded by the government for aged care providers. It supports effective communication with older people from diverse backgrounds, offering language translation, sign language, and captioning services to enhance accessibility and inclusivity in aged care. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This resource explains Incident Management Systems (IMS) used in aged care to record, manage, and respond to incidents. It provides guidance on building a safety culture, recording and analysing incidents, and implementing steps to prevent reoccurrences, supporting continuous improvement in care delivery. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This poster is a tool for improving clinical handover. It outlines the principles of ISBAR: Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation. This supports clinical conversations to be clear, focused and relevant. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This resource provides information about Monthly Care Statements, including why they are important, who can give them, and the benefits for residents and providers. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 November 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This webpage provides resources to help improve communication, care and support for people who are deaf, Deaf, hard of hearing, or who experience hearing loss. It includes 3 tools: Everyday Communication, Inclusive Healthcare, and Building Competency. There are also links to other relevant resources.

This resource provides guidelines for managing patients with multimorbidity in aged care settings. It includes frameworks for assessing treatment burden, identifying patients at risk, and developing individualised care plans. It recommends validated tools for screening, a focus on quality of life, and strategies for medication review and care coordination.

This guide reviews the physiological changes associated with ageing across multiple body systems, including cardiovascular, nervous, renal, respiratory, gastrointestinal, immune, skin, haematological, endocrine, and musculoskeletal systems. It also discusses clinical manifestations of these changes, implications for care, and provides recommendations for adjusting clinical practice to meet the needs of older adults, including medication reviews, hydration, mobility support, and preventive health strategies.

This guide outlines the challenges of diagnosing and managing geriatric syndromes, describing clusters like immobility, instability, incontinence, frailty, sarcopenia, and cognitive impairment. It introduces the 'Geriatric 5Ms' framework: Mind, Mobility, Medications, Mult complexity, and Matters Most, which assists in comprehensive assessment and care planning for older adults, focusing on mental health, physical function, medication review, complex health needs, and care goals.

This guide details the provision of after-hours care for older adults in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) and the community. It covers collaborative agreements between GPs and RACFs, processes to reduce emergency department visits, hospital avoidance strategies, and the importance of coordinating multidisciplinary care. It also addresses infrastructure needs, support staff availability, and funding arrangements to ensure quality care during after-hours periods.

This guide discusses multiculturalism in aged care, addressing the diverse needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) older adults. It covers healthcare principles, communication strategies, clinical considerations, and culturally tailored approaches for areas like medication management, dementia, mental health, nutrition, and substance use. It also provides practical advice for general practitioners, carers, and aged care facilities to deliver culturally safe and effective care.

This guide addresses barriers faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in accessing aged care, such as cultural safety, geographic challenges, and geriatric syndromes experienced at younger ages. It discusses the importance of culturally appropriate care, the use of specific assessment tools, and the unique needs of the Stolen Generation within residential and community settings.