What is and what ought to be: A meta-synthesis of residential aged care staffs' perspectives on quality care

Background: As places of both residence and work, what constitutes "good quality care" in residential aged care requires consideration of staffs' perspectives.

Objective: A meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature was conducted exploring residential aged care staff perspectives on "quality of care."

Methods: Six electronic databases were searched for articles that met the screening inclusion criteria. This meta-synthesis was informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, and included studies were critically appraised using JBI SUMARI. Two independent reviewers conducted thematic network mapping and analysis of included articles, with oversight from three additional reviewers.

Results: Forty-seven articles were included, with findings summarised into four organising themes and nine basic themes. The four organising themes about quality care from staff perspectives include direct care, professional values and competence, the care environment and organisational/regulatory factors.

Conclusion: Staff describe a wide range of factors that they perceived to influence the quality of care. Some may feel motivated to leave employment in aged care, due to organisational pressures that make staff unable to uphold what they perceive as an acceptable standard of care. There is tension between professional values and organisation/regulatory factors-regulation should be enacted at a level that supports good practice and staff's moral integrity.

Relevance to clinical practice: This review found that while person-centred care is now well established as the benchmark of quality care in residential aged care homes, achieving it in reality remains challenged by limitations on staff members' time, resources and sometimes their competencies and the regularity of their employment.