Aged Care Training and Education (ACET)
Programs

Education and Training Programs and Support Resources for Nurses and Carers
Aged Care Education and Training (ACET) is a registered business portfolio of Health Leaders Australia (HLA), with a mission to provide high quality, cost-effective aged care focused learning and development opportunities. These opportunities proactively support registered and enrolled nurses, and where applicable for carers, and the associated education needs of residential aged care facilities and other organisations who engage aged care health care personnel.
ACET is a registered business portfolio of HLA which is a registered not-for-profit charity that was established in 2012, to provide education and training support programs, and related support services, for Australian health care professionals and their engaging organisations.
The ACET business portfolio engages highly competent, qualified and committed educators and trainers experienced in designing and delivering learner-focused learning and development opportunities. These continuing professional development (CPD) education and training opportunities can be accessed via webinars and/or through face-to-face learning sessions delivered for:
- Cohorts of individual registered nurses and/or enrolled nurses in scheduled intakes;
- Cohorts of registered nurses and/or enrolled nurses who are engaged by, or being prepared for, engagement by specific residential care homes and other organisations that require customised learning programs designed to meet the needs of the staff within the organisations; and for
- Cohorts of Carer staff working in residential aged care and home-based care environments.
Each learning and development module is designed as a one-hour experiential collaborative learning session, for a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 16 registered participants. Participants are also able to communicate with a ACET educator/trainer by email, SMS, or phone contact.
ACET’s learning sessions for nurses differ from others on the market, in that each session has been designed to guide each participant in her/his clinical decision-making and service roles, by considering and applying each of the following vitally important factors:
- The interrelationship and differing parameters of quality, cost, and time from the needs of the consumer, the health professionals, and the facility/agency;
- Communication as it affects contextual and clinical competence;
- The removal, mitigation, or management of risk; and
- The relationship between quality indicators and clinical practice.
ACET’s not-for-profit organisation objectives and charitable organisation status also underpins our cost-effective pricing model for delivery of these education and training programs.
Learning sessions focus on the learners achieving targeted learning outcomes of the session’s designed learning module, through collaborative and experiential learning experiences.
The currently available packaged ACET Learning Programs have been designed to meet knowledge and skills requirements of nurses depending on their background, and the requirements of aged care organisations. Aged care residential facilities and other organisations seeking education and training programs to address specific needs of their organisation, are encouraged to liaise with the ACET Programs Manager, to collaboratively identify the module/s that will address the needs of their and organisation’s required outcomes.
The following learning modules are available, and are listed in alphabetical order of module title.
- Acute Deterioration/Clinical Assessment – Assessing the Needs on Return from the Hospital
- Advanced Care Plan
- Chemical Handling
- Clinical Assessments & Documentation
- Communication with People Living with Dementia
- Conflict Resolution – Leadership
- Customer Service & Complaints Management
- Dementia – Behaviours & Communication
- Determining AN-ACC reassessments
- Enrolled Nurse as Leader
- Food Handling
- Governance and Aged Care Standards, & Addressing Diversity in Aged Care
- Governance, Policy, Procedures & Role of the RN/EN/AIN
- Grief & Loss
- Hand Hygiene & PPE
- Health Needs of Older People – GP Referral Considerations
- Incidents in Aged Care – Falls Management & Compulsory Reporting – Serious Incident Reports (SIRS)
- Infection Prevention, Treatment, Control & Outbreak Management
- Leadership – Conflict Resolution
- Leadership – Incidents & How to Review, Investigate & Document them
- Manual Handling
- Medical Calculations
- Mental Health – Cornell Scale for Depression (CSD) & Other Assessments
- Medication Management
- Nutrition, Hydration, BMI & Healthy Weight
- Nutrition Management, Oral Health & Referral to Speech Pathology
- Occupational Health & Safety
- Pain Management – Abbey Pain Scale Records
- Palliative Care & End-of-Life Care, & Care Plans and Health Directives
- Personalising Assessments & Aged Care Plans
- Preparing AN – ACC Paperwork
- Principles of Planning & Implementing Projects
- Professional Issues – Risk Assessment, Code of Conduct, & Clinical Handover
- Quality Indicators in Aged Care
- Restrictive Practice in Aged Care
- Registered Nurse Legal Responsibility
- Stoma Care Teamwork & Communication
- Understanding Diversity in Aged Care
- When to Consult the GP
- Wound Management– Records & Photos
Learning Modules Available
Aged Care Context Continuing Professional Development Programs
The following aged care context continuing professional development (CPD) Packages for nurses and or contexted for carers, are designed to provide participants with quality CPD learning experiences and outcomes, to enhance their competencies and confidence in the provision of services as aged care nurses.
(a) Packaged CPD Short-Term Program Examples
The following two CPD focused short-term Packages provide examples of education and training Programs that can be accessed:
Packaged Modules Suite
Program A
- Communication with People Living with Dementia
- Quality Indicators in Aged Care
- Registered Nurse Legal Responsibility
- Restrictive Practice in Aged Care
- Understanding the Aged Care Standards & Accreditation
- When to Consult the GP
Packaged Modules Suite
Program B
- Dementia – Behaviours & Communication
- Incidents in Aged Care – Falls Management & Compulsory Reporting – Serious Incident Reports (SIRS)
- Palliative Care & End-of-Life Care, & Care Plans & Health Directives
- Personalising Assessments & Aged Care Plans
- Preparing AN – ACC Paperwork
- Wound Management– Records & Photos
(b) Customisable CPD Education and Training Seminar Options
Aged care facilities/agencies may select from the above suite of modules to frame customised CPD Package/s that encompass desired education and training learning experiences and outcomes for their nurses. The mode of delivery of these seminars – whether by webinar, through face-to-face engagement, or by a combination of these delivery modes – would be collaboratively planned to meet the needs of each organisation.
(c) Nurses Project Leadership and Management Education & Training Program
The following 1 or 2-day workshop is part of a larger program designed to contribute to Leadership development within an organisation with a specific focus on communication and teamwork as they contribute to the 4 P’s of Governance: People, Purpose, Process, and Performance. These four Ps serve as the foundational principles for both the existence and operation of governance within any organisation.
The specific focus, depending on those present at the workshop, will be on how individuals and teams can best deliver quality, either at an organisational or an individual resident level:
- Good governance has 8 major characteristics. ‘It is participatory, consensus-oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law.
- Scalable Governance: A governance framework that enables an organisation to adapt and evolve its policies, procedures, and decision-making processes as it grows, expands, or changes its operations, while maintaining consistency, accountability, and transparency. Scalable governance ensures that the organisation’s governance structure and practices remain effective and efficient, even as the organisation’s size, complexity, or business model evolves.
The model below indicates how individual, and team outcomes contribute to organisational outcomes.

The two-day workshop fits into the Leadership development model as indicated in the diagram below:

1-day workshop (Day 1 of 2)
This workshop focuses on communication, teamwork and the people and performance in ‘scalable’ governance. It is part of a longer workshop designed to provide an integrated approach to address issues and risks that arise during normal work processes, before or during the accreditation process, or after, as remediation for identified issues/risks.
The role of quality, policies and processes, are linked to performance outcomes both individual and organisational. People and Performance rely heavily on communication, teamwork, policies and processes to provide high quality care.
The workshop uses the Team Management Profile® (https://tms.global/Facilitator/Video/165) for each participant to enable them to
- Become better engaged in the workplace;
- Better understand how they can work with others; and
- Understand how the team can work as a whole within any context.
The TMP Profile supports team performance and leadership development. Highly cohesive teams are committed, work harder and experience less conflict. The TMP® encourages participants to engage with the principles of emotional intelligence.

One of the issues that this workshop addresses is the epidemic of “quiet quitting”, leaving up to 77% not engaged with their work.

Team morale is impacted when team members feel unsupported, undervalued, and disconnected from the mission, leading to a loss of motivation and higher turnover. Unclear goals and inconsistent expectations can cause confusion and inefficiency, resulting in missed deadlines and decreased productivity.
A lack of open and honest communication can erode trust, making it difficult for teams to function cohesively. When trust is compromised, collaboration and commitment to team goals decrease which often leads to a decrease in the quality of care, increased incidents and cost of care, staff cliques making staffing difficult, increase in staff turnover, and confusion and angst with relatives?
So, what do successful teams do? According to Margerison & McCann (19xx) the developers of the Team Management Profile, there are 8 core concepts.

Each of the participants will receive a personalised report before the workshop, that will be explored in general during the workshop. Participants are not required to, although they will be encouraged to, share generalities. The sharing will enable others to gain greater insight into the way each person prefers to work and communicate. Unlike other personality profiles, the TMP® is about how you prefer to work and communicate in a team not about your personality. During the workshop, the team will be analysed to highlight potential gaps in preferred work areas in achieving the work required to provide high quality care.
From a leadership development perspective this profile can also be used to ensure the right people are in the role in which they can contribute most to the performance outcomes of the organisation.

Day 2/3 of Workshop
The second/third day(s) on the application of the principles of management to an existing organisational problem. (Planning, implementation and closure/BAU).
The workshop is designed to take an Issue or risk that has been identified, and guide the participants to clearly distil the relevant issue/s that need to be addressed, and to identify workable solutions using the project management approach.
This workshop is designed to use simple thinking to apply project management processes to deal with any problem.
The identified Problem will then be worked, as a team, into a usable work package dealing with an integrated approach to all aspects of managing a project. The work package is then scalable to other issues or problems.
The work package will cover:
- Clarifying the problem (Scope, Communication, Key Stakeholders, Authority)
- Desired outcomes (Deliverables)
- What might cause the project to derail (Risk and Issues)
- What standards/processes/policies have to be met (Quality, Governance)
- How long the project might take (Time)
- What would it cost? (Budget)
- What resources are required for the proposed solution to be achieved?
- Implementation
- Reporting
A simplified project template will be provided to guide participants for the Day 2/3 workshop.
The full Leadership Development Program (as represented in the figures below) is available on request.



Staff in the Aged Care sector need to be aware of the various legislative controls in place to ensure public safety for the people who reside within the environment. Accreditation of each facility is mandatory, especially as government funding is used to provide the services within. The public needs to be able to compare each of the facilities, to assist them to determine which environment is going to be best for them to live within. Legislation makes it mandatory to public satisfaction surveys – Star ratings to be published. Safety is paramount, and staff will need to know how they can prove this to the public.
This workshop will enable individuals and teams to develop a systematic approach to issues and /or problems that affect accreditation in their specific facility. The problem may also be one considered by the senior leadership team to be a priority for safety or other key standards.
(d) ACET Nurses Transition into Aged Care Programs
The ACET Nurses Transition into Aged Care Program (NTACP), is an education and training Program undertaken through a series of interactive webinar and/or face-to-face collaborative learning sessions and supported by targeted web-based resources for nurses new into aged care.
There are two different participant cohort models available for this Program as follows:
- Registered and enrolled nurses who enrol as individual participants to undertake the Program under their own initiative;
- Registered and enrolled nurses who are employees of, or being recruited by, aged care organisations, in which the Program is customised in collaboration with each aged care organisation, to support the priority needs of these nurses, and that aim address the specific priorities and other requirements of their applicable organisation.
NTACP Program Objectives
This ACET Nurses Transition into Aged Care Program (NACP) has been designed to:
- Proactively assist graduate and experienced Registered and Enrolled Nurses to efficiently and effectively develop and apply knowledge, skills, attitudes, and resources to enter or to enhance their aged care nursing career opportunities and service outcomes;
- Enable Registered Aged Care Facilities (RACF) and home-based nursing service providers, to attract, develop, and retain highly competent and committed new graduates and experienced nurses to the aged care sector enhancing their workforce;
- Empower the Program’s participants to serve as clinical and organisational leaders, to proactively and successfully contribute toward the achievement of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, and the Commonwealth Government’s aged care reform agenda;
- Expand the availability of nurses who are committed to, and trained with the competencies and commitment required, to provide high quality nursing and associated clinical and organisational leadership, in aged care, for the Australian community; and to enable the Registered Nurse to take a systematic approach to implementing a project management processes for addressing problems and/or issues within a facility.
Learning Outcomes
By completion of the Program graduates should be able to:
- Articulate and consistently apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of quality nurses providing patient-centred care for aged people;
- Apply competent aged care context nursing clinical decisions, problem-solving, risk-assessment and mitigation actions, and apply safe personal and workplace practices;
- Work as a member of a collaborative team and maintain productive relationships with their aged care residents, workplace and broader professional collegiate networks, and other stakeholders of their services; and to
- Proactively contribute toward a professional workplace culture and quality outcomes for those they serve.
Career Outcomes
The NACP enables its participants to pursue a rewarding nursing career in providing quality clinical and related services for residents of the aged care community. Career development aspirations and outcomes supported include the following nursing roles and responsivities:
- A Nurse providing care directly to aged care consumers in collaboration with the support of care workers and other health care providing colleagues;
- A Mentor or facilitator providing education and training for other nurses and carers; and
- A Clinical Team Leader such as a coordinator or clinical manager of a nursing service.
Learning and Teaching Approach
The learning and teaching approach includes:
- Collaborative participation in webinar and/or face-to-face based learning sessions, facilitated by highly skilled nurse and GP educators and trainers who possess a wide variety of specialised skills and expertise relative to aged care nursing.
- Engaged participation in discussion forums to promote professional communication, collaboration, and peer to peer networking.
- Unpacking real-life case scenarios to analyse, distil, and ensure quality practice.
- Identification of, and linkages to, useful aged care focused website and other resources and reference information.
- Developing and presenting a written portfolio that distils learning from the Program into a practical project that is or can be deployed in an aged care setting.
(e) Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) Funding Model Nurses Training Program
The Australian National – Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model is undergoing continuous review. ACET engages a highly experienced nurse with AN-ACC expertise, to provide education and training, focused on the knowledge and competencies required, for the efficient and effective deployment of the AN-ACC funding model in residential aged care facilities.
Contact Health Leaders Australia to discuss education and training arrangements including sessions’ delivery arrangements and costing models.
Aged Care Education & Training
ABN: 40 155 047 779
E: info@acet.org.au
M: 0409 847 172