is it normal to HATE placement?

Hi Louisa,

Sorry to hear of your experience.

I did mine for one day only but unfortunately, I fell very ill on the second day and could not continue for a while.  However, the facility was not happy to take me back because I was not from the training school they preferred.

Anyway, in answering your question, I felt the same way too with the staff but it was an easy day for me only because my friend works there and she was showing me the ropes for which I was so thankful. 

But I saw how the other students were treated like stupid and hated because they are too slow, etc.  Even among the staff, I see them bickering and arguing which made me very uneasy.  Then there was one staff who just looked at me from head to toe, never said a word as if I was a total threat to her.  

The feeling I have there is one negative, unfriendly place but the residents are a joy.  They love to know you and are happy to have a chat.  I just feel sorry for them having to be taken care of these bitter, unhappy people with uncaring attitude who I think made them as such from years of hard work and low pay.

At least you have your foot in the door because you need to complete your hours at a facility to be awarded the Certificate III.  After that, you don't have to work with them, you have the option of doing Home and  Community Care (HACC) where you are on your own at a client's house.  I have a friend who works just like that and  told me it's much easier and less stressful and she swears by it.

My advice is to stick it out because you may never get a chance to do your placement at another facility.  They are chock-full and not accepting students, unless your education provider can arrange that for you.  Mine did not and could not so I'm not sure if I could ever complete the course.  Oh well, just my luck.

Thanks for the replies, Suannie and Seraphim.

I definitely agree with you both that you do have to focus on the residents, I'll certainly be keeping that in my mind every time I get discouraged. Suannie, I've already applied for work with home care agencies and one has agreed to take me on even though I'm not yet fully certified. So my primary focus is to finish the placement and focus on learning new skills to further my abilities with future clients.

That aside, I've been reading online about others experiences and realise that my experience is pretty common - I read one sociological study saying that around 50% of students decide not to work in the industry after having done work placement, largely due to the lack of support and that the majority of facilities don't have any employees with training experience. Those facilites who did have trained employees who actively assisted students found that post-study retention rate rise to up to 90%. If only all aged care facilities would do this, otherwise why do they bother taking on students? Cheap labour?

Suannie, if you're in Vic or Tas, pm me if you would be interested in the names of a couple of places that take on students that you can try.

It blows my mind that they would not be grateful that students are offering free labour in making their job easier.

I just dont understand the rationale of these people. Do they not remember what it felt like when they were doing their placements too?

Simply ridiculous. Shows there are all sorts that make up this world.

Just to follow up from my original post:

I left that aged care trainer and completed my training at a different aged care home. I was the only student there and found it a MUCH better experience - some of the nurses were fantastic, guided me through everything and even gave me personal working references when I finished. Some were less great, of course, and I've since found that in aged care there can often be a real mentality of some carers behaving as if they know everything and you're invading their turf. As trudooldoo mentioned, in many aged care/nursing environment I've witnessed there has been some degree of staff members gossiping, one-upmanship, unsupportiveness and putting others down, which has been disillusioning at times.

My advice for anyone who was in my original position (or who may be looking for their first aged care home to work in) would be to opt for aged care providers that have a decent staff gender and ethnicity balance, and a young staff - this is not to denigrate older carers, many of whom are experienced and FANTASTIC at their job - but in my short experience I've generally found that younger staff environments have been more inclusive, flexible and enthusiastic, and less judgmental towards newbies and students. 

I'd also suggest HACC (Community Care). It has it negative points (e.g. there's a lot of driving, and at times you feel like a glorified cleaning lady) but you have relative autonomy and you can just get on with doing a good job without having to worry about workplace politics so much.