Improving the Design of Aged Care Accreditation Standards Using Contemporary Systems Thinking Concepts

The object of this interpretive inquiry is the residential aged care Standards structure and the Standards quality accreditation (assessment/ auditing) processes. The author’s concern is whether or not the application of contemporary systems thinking principles could improve the current Standards and accreditation processes. Contemporary systems thinking is a variant of systems theory and critical systems thinking which places less emphasis on feedback and more on seeking multiple perspectives. Its application aims to explore the perspectives, underlying assumptions and guiding principles used by stakeholdersin this case to the construction of the quality accreditation Standards and assessment/audit processes. It involves searching for evidence of purposeful whole systems that exhibit interconnectivity, clear boundaries, completeness, harmony, a teleological approach, structure, function, process, the input of multiple perspectives and an ‘outside in’ focus. The author is a long-standing, credentialed participant in the residential aged care accreditation industry so is in a ethnographic position to attempt to apply this emerging systems thinking approach to this important accreditation process. The study is in it early stages, the driving theory and first impressions are reported in this paper.