Episode 2:

Enhancing Aged Care Excellence:

Expert Strategies with Elizabeth Lear – Part 2

About our guest:

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Elizabeth Lear

Elizabeth Lear is the Clinical Support Specialist at VCare Software and a registered nurse with deep experience in residential aged care. She has worked across clinical leadership, quality improvement and auditing, helping services lift standards in documentation, communication and resident outcomes.

At VCare, Elizabeth partners with providers to translate best practice into everyday workflows. She supports implementations and training, strengthens care planning and mobility pathways, and advises on audit readiness and team development.

Elizabeth also creates clinical resources and training guides for the VCare community.

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Most services aim for safer care and better outcomes—yet teamwork, delegation, and audit discipline are what turn that goal into reality. Elizabeth Lear (RN, auditor, and Clinical Support Specialist at VCare) shares how to build collaborative teams, delegate safely, and prepare for audits so residents benefit every day.

Key takeaways:

  • Define great teamwork: clarity of purpose, clear communication, agreed decision-making, and participative leadership lift quality of life.

  • Name the barriers early: understaffing, weak communication culture, turnover, fatigue, and unclear instructions undermine care.

  • Know your team’s strengths: map who is action/people/thought-oriented; plan shifts by skills and acuity, not just room numbers.

  • Share information as a habit: quick huddles and respectful cross-checks reduce errors and keep everyone aligned.

  • Delegate to build capacity: the RN remains accountable; use delegation to grow skills while ensuring supervision and support.

  • Avoid delegation pitfalls: “only I can do it,” low confidence, poor instruction, time pressure, and staff resistance lead to missed care.

  • Use the Five Rights of Delegation: right task, circumstance, person, direction/communication, supervision/evaluation.

  • Make delegation explicit: confirm scope, outline expectations, agree when to escalate, and seek feedback to check understanding.

  • Monitor and document: review progress, record outcomes, and assign workloads equitably to protect safety and morale.

  • Treat every day as audit day: audits verify you do what you say—policies, training, minutes, and QI must match practice.

  • Start audits on a positive: present recent improvements and evidence you want considered for continuous improvement ratings.

  • Prepare an ‘auditor pack’: org chart, resident list (with interview considerations), rosters/first-aid cover, menus, activities, education plan, QI evidence, and any Section 31s.

  • Expect triangulation: auditors cross-check observation, records, and interviews—ensure they all tell the same story.

  • Avoid common findings: overdue care plans/reviews, missing neuro-obs after falls, gaps in assessments, short-term plans not used, evaluations that don’t show progress, and missing temperature/stock/internal-audit records.

  • Record exceptions and comms: if meetings can’t occur, note the reason and how information was shared (memo/newsletter) to reduce risk ratings.

  • Link care to evidence: documentation should show assessment → plan → action → evaluation, with goals and outcomes clear to any reader.