--- title: "Age tech for the care workforce: conversation practice" description: "For aged care and home care providers: age tech that helps staff rehearse hard conversations with residents and families, beside sensors and alarms." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/age-tech --- [Our Work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work) / Age tech # 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 and her daughter meet a coordinator. An older woman speaks to a visitor. 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 waits alone in an aged-care lounge. ### A workforce opportunity The [World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health) 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 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](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/aged-care-disability/dementia-changed-behaviours-training) and [training for aged care and disability providers](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/aged-care-disability). 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](https://peopletechrevolution.com/ai/ai-roleplay-practice) or in a [VR headset](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/virtual-reality). The rules ## Aged care rules ask for competent, trained staff In Australia and the United States, the rules name training for dementia care. A clinician sits with an older woman. ### Australia The [Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards](https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/strengthened-quality-standards/organisation/human-resource-management) ask for competency-based training that includes caring for people living with dementia. ### United States [Federal nursing home rules](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/chapter-IV/subchapter-G/part-483/subpart-B/section-483.95) require dementia management training for nurse aides. See how these duties sit beside [psychosocial hazards training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/psychosocial-hazards). The record ## Two companies, two records Attribution matters here, so each result sits with the company that earned it. 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](https://peopletechrevolution.com/fast-builds/games/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 lifestyle coordinator joins a garden session. ### People Tech Revolution Immersive and AI practice for workforces, measured: the [controlled study with Mayo Clinic nurse leaders](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-nursing-leaders-mayo-clinic), the [Mater immersive learning pilot](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/mater-immersive-learning-pilot), and [work presented at CHI 2024](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-dei-training-google-chi-2024). More in [research and evidence](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-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 car park drop-off with an older man. 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 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](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/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](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/does-vr-training-work). 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](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical) and [disability support workers](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/disability). - [Aged care and disability](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/aged-care-disability) - [Dementia and changed behaviours](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/aged-care-disability/dementia-changed-behaviours-training) - [Case studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies) - [Talk to us](https://peopletechrevolution.com/talk-to-us) Working in aged care or home care? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/age-tech#contact) Ask Simon’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources Each figure and rule on its publisher’s own site. ### [Ageing and health](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health) WHO fact sheet The global figures on population ageing. ### [Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards: human resource management](https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/strengthened-quality-standards/organisation/human-resource-management) Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Competency-based training that includes caring for people living with dementia. ### [Training requirements for long-term care facilities](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/chapter-IV/subchapter-G/part-483/subpart-B/section-483.95) Electronic Code of Federal Regulations Training requirements for nursing homes, including dementia management for nurse aides. ### [Virtual Reality Intervention for Nursing and Social Worker Leaders](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648) Social Science and Medicine The controlled study with Mayo Clinic nurse and social worker leaders.