A Day in the Life of a home support clinical care team manager

Natasha (Tash) Decorso manages the clinical care team at Resthaven Paradise and Eastern Community Services. Her career path in aged care began with a hospitality role in a residential aged care home, before undertaking her Certificate III in Individual Support (Ageing and Disability). Tash then undertook further study, becoming an enrolled nurse, before completing her Diploma of Nursing and then Bachelor of Nursing. After working in hospitals and residential aged care, Tash made the transition to community as a Registered Nurse Coordinator. When a promotion opportunity arose for her to move into her current role as Resthaven Clinical Manager, Tash felt ready for the next challenge and well supported by her employer. Here’s a day in her life.

07:00 Wake and get ready for the day.

07:30 Read emails and check calendar, planning for the morning ahead.

08:20 Drive to the office. On the way, I enjoy listening to an audiobook or podcast.

08:45 Make coffee and read notes relating to what has been planned for the day.

09:00 Check if there are any urgent clinical matters to follow up on from the night or weekend before.

09:30 Check staff schedules and make any necessary changes.

10:00 I like to have an open-door policy where team members can find me to discuss any matters I can assist with. Having a strong team focus has proven to be very successful in building relationships within our site. We work together to troubleshoot and provide high-quality care. During this time, I also complete clinical tasks, audits, reports or review clients.

Image: Supplied

12:30 Lunch break. A good opportunity to also go for a walk if the weather permits. I find that a walk is a nice way for me to re-gather my thoughts and reflect on what needs attention for the rest of the day. Linear Park is next to our Paradise campus, and it is a lovely spot to watch the ducks at the pond and appreciate the scenery.

13:00 Preparation time for meetings. Once a week, we have our clinical meeting. I find this to be very valuable, as it is a chance for the team to hand over information to each other in an open forum of clinicians. All voices are heard, and we can share our thoughts, ideas and perspectives to assist our clients with best-practice care. During this time, I prepare the agenda, as well as any training that might be included in the session.

15:00 Meeting with clinical team.

16:00 Follow up on any urgent matters before the end of the day. Check in with other members of the team, including the manager onsite, if there are any pending matters needing clinical oversight.

17:00 Drive home while listening to an audiobook or podcast. Traffic is always very heavy on the way home. I use the time to further reflect on my day.

17:45 Arrive home and spend some time with the family and fur baby before having dinner.

19:00 Dinner with family. I find this time very important as we all have busy schedules. It is nice to come together and have our evening meal together.

20:00 After cleaning up from dinner (weather dependent), I enjoy walking my dog before it goes dark to wind down after a busy day.

21:00 Time spent with my husband watching TV.

22:30 Evening routine and get ready for bed. I value my quiet time and brain dump any pending tasks that come to mind. If I wake during the night, I have a notepad by the bed so I can write down any ‘light bulb moments’ before I settle back to sleep.

23:30 Sleep

Top image: Supplied