An older woman sits in her armchair beside her walker in a simulated front room, a prompt panel floating across the room.

Age tech for the care workforce: practice for hard conversations

Sensors and alarms watch over older people. Rehearsal prepares the care workers who talk with them and their families.

The moment

The conversation no sensor can hold

A daughter hears that her mother has deteriorated. A resident refuses care. A family is angry about a fall. That conversation is the job, and it can be practised before it happens.

An elder sits in the good chair with her daughter beside her in a simulated regional aged-care room; a care coordinator in the headset listens rather than leads. — An elder and her daughter meet a coordinator.

An older woman speaks to a seated visitor. A first person VR training scenario for aged care and disability services, seen through the headset. — An older woman speaks to a visitor.

A worker in a headset stands on a rain-soaked verandah as an older woman opens her front door. — A worker at the door in the rain.

The market

An ageing world needs people who can care

The demographics are settled. What follows from them is a workforce question.

A man sits forward in an armchair in a darkened aged-care lounge, a ribbon of light curving across the frame and a walking frame beside him. — A man waits alone in an aged-care lounge.

A workforce opportunity

The World Health Organization projects that between 2015 and 2050 the proportion of the world’s population over 60 will nearly double, from 12 per cent to 22 per cent, and by 2050 that population will reach 2.1 billion. By 2030, one in six people will be 60 or over.

Each of those people is cared for by someone, and the care workforce holds the hard conversations with residents, patients and families. Devices scale by manufacturing. Judgement in a hard conversation scales by practice.

What we build

Built for the people around the person ageing

Monitoring, falls detection and clinical documentation serve the resident and the record. Rehearsal serves the workforce.

A physiotherapist wearing a headset leans toward a seated older woman in a recliner. — A clinician listens to an older woman.

Rehearsal for the care workforce

A worker practises out loud with a simulated person who responds to what they say: a family member angry about a fall, a resident refusing care, a colleague who needs difficult feedback. A debrief follows, and a record of who practised what.

See dementia and changed behaviours training and training for aged care and disability providers.

A seated consultation: an older person wears a headset beside a face while a human adviser sits in the room, keeping a person in the loop. — An AI practice partner, a facilitator beside.

A clear line in procurement

Tools for the resident and tools for the workforce solve different problems. Naming which one a tender buys keeps the budget on the problem it was meant for.

The practice runs with an AI roleplay partner or in a VR headset.

The rules

Aged care rules ask for competent, trained staff

In Australia and the United States, the rules name training for dementia care.

The clinician leans in; an older woman listens. A VR training scenario for aged care and disability services. — A clinician sits with an older woman.

Australia

The Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards ask for competency-based training that includes caring for people living with dementia.

United States

Federal nursing home rules require dementia management training for nurse aides. See how these duties sit beside psychosocial hazards training.

The record

Two companies, two records

Attribution matters here, so each result sits with the company that earned it.

A woman in her seventies faces her own reflection beside a floral armchair in a sunlit lounge room. — An older woman faces her own reflection.

The Ageing Revolution

Simon Lowe and Leonie Sanderson founded The Ageing Revolution in 2015, before People Tech Revolution, and it is still a company in its own right. Leonie Sanderson ran the Transforming Aged Care with Virtual Reality trials across residential facilities in Queensland and Victoria through The Ageing Revolution, with a university research partner and a philanthropic research grant.

Carked It, the card game about dying, won an Australian Good Design Award credited to The Ageing Revolution. These results are The Ageing Revolution’s, and they are why the founders know this sector.

A simulated garden bed, morning sun over herbs and terracotta pots. Two residents in their seventies work at the bed while a lifestyle coordinator in the headset kneels nearby. — A lifestyle coordinator joins a garden session.

People Tech Revolution

Immersive and AI practice for workforces, measured: the controlled study with Mayo Clinic nurse leaders, the Mater immersive learning pilot, and work presented at CHI 2024. More in research and evidence.

How it runs

Practice that fits a care roster

Short sessions on a shift, from scenarios your own staff describe.

A community nurse greets an older woman. A VR training scenario for healthcare. — A community nurse greets an older woman.

A carer wearing a headset stands by an open car door as an older man approaches across a car park. — A car park drop-off with an older man.

A VR aged care and disability services training scenario in which a young support worker stands alone in a staff alcove. — A support worker starts a solo session.

Questions

What providers ask first

Short answers to the questions that come up in a first meeting.

A receptionist wearing a headset leans over the desk while an older man waits at the counter. — A receptionist hears out an older man.

Does it need a headset?

A conversation rehearsal runs in a browser, which suits a workforce spread across sites and shifts. Headsets suit spatial and procedural work; see choosing the right technology.

What does the evidence show?

Controlled studies report measurable gains in empathy after VR practice. See what the evidence on VR training shows.

A VR aged care and disability services training scenario in which a care worker walks beside an older man holding a handrail in a corridor. — A worker steadies a man at the rail.

Who signs off that someone is competent?

Your educator. The rehearsal produces evidence a named person reviews and signs, which is what an audit asks for.

Where else does it apply?

Home care, disability services, hospital wards caring for older patients and the community services around them hold the same conversations. See healthcare and medical and disability support workers.

Working in aged care or home care?

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