Nursing - Aged Care

Allegations on Aged Care Abuse – Malicious and Incorrect

Monday, June 14th, 2010 by shoils

No doubt you have all heard the hype that has been in the paper the last few weeks about our aged care facilities in Sydney (which I leave unnamed).

The allegations from this woman’s diary are serious and make it clear that we in aged Aged Carecare do nothing but neglect our residents. When reading the article I couldn’t help but feel enraged at this woman.

How dare she? For her 15 minutes of fame she has not only hurt the facility that she has been volunteering at but ruined a whole industry that is struggling already.

Many of the things that I read seemed to be a little far-fetched and I know are not the truth (as I know one of the facilities she was volunteering at).

Her allegations that she was told to keep things from the family and told that if a family asks about something to simply say “that is confidential” could not be further from the truth.

By law NOK/Guardians and any power of attorney have the right to see and get information from the facility in regards to their relative or client. Anyone who is not legally looking after the person of course can’t. But this goes for anywhere doesn’t it?

When I ring the hospital after sending a resident for acute care,  9 times out of 10, I am told that information is not allowed to be given to me in regards to the health status of my resident even though I am ringing on behalf of the nursing home and we are the primary carers of the person (not to mention that I am the care manager of the facility).

She complains that she was feeding and transferring residents without qualifications. Well I find this also hard to believe.

In aged care we are very much governed by legislation and I know that one of the facilities that she was volunteering in she was specifically told NOT to do any tasks that are specialised such as feeding and transferring, yet she was caught doing them and asked to please refrain from doing so as it is a danger to the residents.

This person entered these aged care facilities with the intention to catch them out — not to help. If she was hearing people calling out into the corridor and the staff were engaged with helping other residents why did she not simply get them that blanket? Or give them their bedside phone to make the phone call etc?

When you enter a nursing home you will hear residents calling out into the corridor, particularly if they have dementia and don’t know how to use the call bell or they have no concept of time and they may have only just rang the call bell and what feels an hour to them may only be a few moments thus complaining that the buzzer is not answered for hours and they never get what they need. But the reality is the nurses were busy taking someone to the toilet and as soon as they are done they will attend to that resident’s needs.

What is the most upsetting about this whole thing is that this lady is not a professional.

She has no idea about aged care she is purely making assumptions on the small snippet she has witnessed. Food does get cold, when you are serving more than 10 people at the same time and you have to feed the majority, unless you have a staff patient ratio of 1:2 – this can’t be helped.

It is against food and safety regulations to re-heat food in aged care facilities. So what would she like the catering department to do? Serve food resident by resident?

She passes comment on what the staff say during their “smoke break.” Well I don’t know where to begin to state how wrong this is.

Staff’s mealtime and break times are there for staff to de-brief, state whatever it is they feel like whether it be right or wrong, whether is be PC or not. If they said what she states they said (which is hear say in any case) is it not a person’s rights to do or say as they wish on their break away from their residents?

Nurses swap patients all the time, and say things about their patients particularly if they are difficult ones. That is how we let off steam and that is how we get emotional support from our colleagues.

I could go on and on rebutting everything this woman disclosed but I guess it would be useless the damage that this woman has done to our industry is too great.

Spot checks are taking place all through the aged care industry, unannounced visits have already started and will continue now for the rest of the year I suspect. You know what I say to that…… BRING IT ON!!!

The place she complained about had a 3 day accreditation and investigation and they found nothing.

Are you telling me that all the residents lied? If people understood the whole investigative processes of the department they would understand that not only are staff interviewed, but residents, relatives, visitors are all interviewed in fact who ever walks through the front door is interviewed.

Documentation is checked and so is achieved documentation. It is quite hard to pull the wool over the department’s eyes.

The department is trained to spot BS a mile away, and when an unsubstantiated complaint is made. I have done the assessors course so I am well aware of the processes. Whilst once upon a time neglect ran rampant throughout the aged care industry, now it is not the case we are a very heavily regulated industry and welcome these regulations to ensure our elderly get the very best they deserve.

Even if someone was to be nursed 1 on 1 they still might end up in a wet pad or calling out at any one time, this is human nature and life. The question that should be asked is…. Is this happening all the time? Does this person have deteriorated skin, or shows signs of neglect?

It has taken decades to try to get rid of the stigma of aged care and get the wider community to understand that aged care these days is not the end of the road full of neglect, but a place where the elderly can get their life back and enjoy the time they have left.

With one sharp swift of the pen this woman has taken us back to square one. She has stopped aged care facilities in trusting volunteers and thus as a result many will close their doors on volunteers from now on and who gets hurt in the end?

The elderly who so love having volunteers come in to be with them. I hope this woman is happy that she has caused more harm than good. All for the price of 15 minutes of fame.

What do you think about this whole saga? How did you feel when you read what she wrote? Did you believe this to be true or did you feel enraged at her story?

Image source (http://www.fotosearch.com/CSP126/k1264445/)

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Nurses, are We confusing Dementia with Hearing Deficits?

Thursday, May 20th, 2010 by shoils

For the past month I have been trying to organise one of our residents to attend hydrotherapy with a private physio company. Mr X got approval from DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs) and was considered a good candidate for such hearing aidtherapy. This decision was made by the practice manager over the phone after I had spoken with her at length about Mr X. I finally got him an appointment for an assessment at the hydrotherapy place, sent him off, and after an hour he was sent back.

I then received a phone call from one of the physio therapists, in a very distressed and angry tone she proceeded to tell me how Mr X was not a candidate for hydrotherapy. He was demented, confused and didn’t answer any of the questions she had asked him. She couldn’t see how we thought he was a suitable candidate, he had arrived in a wheelchair and was unable to get up on his own. I let the physio have her say and then calmly told her that Mr X in fact was not demented or confused, he is able weight bare and walk with assistance from 1 staff and a frame. This in itself makes him a candidate for hydrotherapy….. no?

When thinking back later that day it dawned on me that the reason she must have thought he was demented and couldn’t answer her was probably because he couldn’t hear her properly. This confusion happens more than we care to think about. Many residents are branded as demented, confused, depressed, and as having behavioural problems simply because they cannot hear properly.

How many times have we seen a diagnosis of dementia on a discharge summery yet there are no tests to substantiate this diagnosis? They arrive to the nursing home, we do our assessments, pick up the fact that they can’t hear properly, get an audiologist visit, arrange for hearing aids and all of a sudden the resident is a different person.

It makes me angry to think that people like this physio are so quick to judge elderly people. They don’t take the time to stop and think that maybe there is something else causing this communication barrier other than dementia. Elderly people are misdiagnosed all too often and it is because people cannot be bothered to look at the whole picture. The rate of elderly people being diagnosed with depression is unbelievably high. GP’s start them on anti-depressants and then staff wonder why the medications aren’t working.

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the resident is not depressed?

Did the GP bother to check the resident’s ears?

Could it be that there is a wax build up in the ears? Or the resident requires hearing aids?

What has happened to the concept of holistic care and comprehensive assessments of our patients? Or is it that the elderly don’t deserve our time.

The statement of “I just don’t have the time” just doesn’t cut it, we are all pressed for time these days but if we just spend that little bit of time assessing the elderly properly then we will save time and money in the long run.

Have you experienced an incident like this?

Have you suffered the same frustrations where one of your patients has been misdiagnosed purely because someone was quick to assume or didn’t have the “time” to find out what really is going on?

Tell us your story, and maybe, just maybe, we might change the culture of medical/allied health staff dismissing the simpler things that make all the difference to our treasured elderly people.

Photo source (http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/hearing-aid.html)

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Does ACFI truly capture how long we spend with each resident and pay enough?

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 by shoils

Those of us that work in aged care appreciate and share the frustration and hurdles we have to deal with when it comes to the new funding tool ACFI (aged care funding instrument).elderly

When we first changed from RCS to ACFI many of us were sceptical and saw that we were going to lose a lot of much needed dollars to look after our resident, but were happy that the documentation required was going to be sliced and thus give us more time for direct resident care.  We were all told to give it a chance and told that in the long run we would see that the system change was for the better not worse.

Now that ACFI has been up and running for 2 years we still are having issues with trying to reflect the true needs of the resident and the amount of time it takes to care for them and thus getting the correct amount of funding.

Let me give you 2 examples that I have come across where because of the assessment and the fact that they do not correctly capture the needs of the resident I am not being adequately funded for either resident.

I have a resident, he has dementia, he is diagnosed with dementia, he is soooo confused, but for some reason his short term memory is excellent, he has a history of absconding and falls +++.

When I conducted the PASS (the cognitive skills assessment) on him, the final total score indicated he did not have any cognitive deficit (much to my surprise) so we could not claim anything. There is no section in the behaviour management section for absconding residents (which requires many hours of supervision) and because he is quite mobile despite his unsteady gait the funding is low. Our nurses spend a lot of their day providing supervision, assisting and helping him and yet he is classified as low care. The assessments do not capture the correct picture of him.

Another resident I have is classified as high care for some things as we need to provide full assistance for all of his personal hygiene but he is very mentally alert and he is very fussy about everything. To give him a shower takes 45 minutes because he likes things in particular order and done a certain way.

There is no assessment in ACFI to capture this. He takes a lot of staff time wanting to talk about issues in the home and discuss things that are going on during the day. He comes to the nurse’s station and talks to staff taking up a lot of their time and once again there is no assessment to capture this. We cannot put it down as intrusive behaviour as it isn’t. He is coming to us to talk for a reason this does not classify as a behaviour.

So what are Aged Care nurses to do?

This story is common across the board and we cannot get it through to the government that they are not funding us adequately and that their assessments are not true indicators of how things are. I do not believe that it is because staff is not efficient enough, or working smart enough. The government needs to understand that we are dealing with people and more to the point elderly people that are not always acutely ill and just lying in a bed. It does not take 10 minutes to attend to them, and then we move on to the next one.

The assessments need to reflect the real issues that nurses battle and that effect their time management.  I don’t understand why they don’t get nursing home staff to help develop their assessments and not people that once upon a time used to work in Aged Care.

What do you think about the ACFI tool? What are your stories and frustrations surrounding government funding?

image source (http://www.fotosearch.com.au/photos-images/elderly.html)

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Malnutrition Allegations in Aged Care (Part 2 of 2)

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 by shoils

man on scales This is the second part of this article. Please go to Part 1 if you have missed it.

The DAA suggests that we catch the problem early and monitor food intake in our residents. Every facility, no matter which provider they belong to, should have some kind of a food intake monitoring form. If you are concerned with intake you don’t need a GP or dietician approval to start one of these, you simply state in the residents notes that you are concerned about nutritional intake and you want to start investigating, thus you are commencing a food intake form. This is where who ever is the person to feed this resident/pt needs to be diligent in documenting exactly what he/she ate for that meal. All 3 shifts must do this for however many days the form stipulates.  Then, when you have evidence that intake has in fact decreased you can raise your concern with the GP or dietician. They will be pleasantly surprised that you have already completed the form and have the data waiting for them. Then you can start other investigations like find out if they are in pain, are no longer able to eat on their own, have problems swallowing, are becoming depressed, decreased cognitive ability etc.

The other way you know if someone is getting malnutrition is by regularly weighing them. They may have a great appetite but may not be absorbing  anything. At our facility we weigh people monthly and have a special obs form that it goes into and I as the care manager type it onto a special excel program that our IT department developed, and it  shows me if someone is starting to become malnutritioned. When I can see someone is starting to lose weight, according the amount of weight the person has lost I am to follow certain directives to try and reverse the malnutrition process. You don’t need a fancy system however to tell you there is a problem, all you have to do is weigh them and write it down somewhere in their file, if there is a weight loss do some investigating, consult their GP and their family maybe they have an explanation, or have noticed something that you haven’t.  There are also a huge range of great products now that help boost protein and caloric intake which I am sure you provider already has or can easily order, and these days they come in lots of different flavours that your residents will love.

You may not be able to stop everyone from becoming malnutritioned, but you can reduce the numbers with very small simple steps. Simple observations in behaviour, intake, and surroundings will prove very useful in aiding you to look after our frail and aged.

How do you feel about the statistics of malnutrition in our elderly? How have you helped a person from becoming malnutritioned? Have you witnessed some poor practices that have resulted in malnutrition?

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Nursing Homes… at times, a violent place

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 by shoils

We all know that working in hospitals, mental health and other health care facilities, we are exposed to violent patients, particularly those working in the emergency department portrait-elderly-man_~x13162101and acute mental health wards. But, those of us working in aged care, we too face violence everyday in our work place.

Many people think that elderly people don’t have the strength or the know how to be violent. But, I assure you it is the opposite! Aged Care nurses put up with abuse (physical and verbal) everyday on every shift and we don’t have the luxury of a duress button or calling security.  In fact, it is considered our job to put up with this abuse, we shrug our shoulders and then implement a plan of action to reduce this violence.

I remember when I was an RN on the floor working in an aged care facility. We had a very demented lady (Mrs L). Mrs L was a sweet lady (I’m sure before she was demented), but now hissed at everyone walking past, spat in your hair when you were putting on her shoes, and lashed out at you if you can near her.

One day, I was attending to the wound on her arm when she grabbed the keys from round my neck and attempted to choke me. Lucky for me, the physio aid was walking past and saw me trying to pull away without hurting this poor little old lady. My fear of hurting Mrs L nearly had me blue and breathless by her choking me.  The physio aid released Mrs L’s grip from my keys and set me free. Of course I was OK, maybe a little sore around the neck from the burn the lanyard gave me (this was in the days before the lanyard pulled apart like the union ones). But, the saddest thing is, I just accepted that this was part of my job.  I never once blamed Mrs L as she was demented and had no real idea of what she is doing, well not really anyway, and she acted out of pure fear.

Another horrid story is when I was 6 months pregnant with my first daughter. I was managing a facility and doing my usual meet and greet in the morning to all the residents after handover. I walked into a gentleman’s room, walked up to his bed to say good morning, gave him a glass of water when out of the blue as I was leaning over his bed to get the buzzer to give it to him, he punched me in the belly. This man was demented but had no history of violence previously. I got the fright of my life and once again shrugged it off as part of my day in the aged care setting.

I have probably 100 different stories like this about the abuse that I have copped over the years, the names I have been called, the amount of times I have been bitten, scratched, kicked and had cups and jugs of water thrown at me or my head by residents with a form of dementia. In fact one time I was thrown against a wall and pinned down by a very tall, large elderly man who was angry that he was put in a home.  Despite these people being elderly they can really hurt and injure staff, and yet as a manager all you can do is put strategies in place so that the staff that might recognise and minimise the triggers, and ensure they are well informed, thus approaching things in a safer manner.  But once again all staff can do is shrug their shoulders and take it as it is part of their job.

Many nurses complain that they get paid little money and have to put up with unfair conditions. However, the nurses I feel for the most are the ones in aged care. They get paid considerably less than hospital nurses and have to put up with this abuse every day, they can’t just call security and have the patient removed or complain to management and have the patient scheduled for violence. Dementia makes the sweetest person sometimes do horrible violent things and this is our job, to protect the demented from their selves and others, but what about protection for the staff? Unfortunately, we don’t get any, not even danger money for working in these conditions.

Yes, I know we can all choose another field to working in. But, if we all up and left because of this, then who will be left to look after these otherwise sweet elderly residents?

What are your stories of violence in the work place? Should we have to put up with violence – even in nursing homes?
I know you have some tories about violence in your work place because we have all experienced it at some stage or another, and please spare a thought for the hard working Aged Care nurses and support their cause.

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Young People Residing in Aged Care Facilities

Monday, February 1st, 2010 by shoils

I was recently reading an article on Nine MSN about the real need for nursing homes for young people with high care needs. This got me thinking: How many people have I looked afteyoung person in wheel chairr in my time working in residential care that have not been elderly?

I have only looked after a handful of residents that were under the age of 60. Nevertheless, I have to agree with this article. I remember talking to senior management about this need only to be told that it was not profitable to set up a home for the young. I was told that the government does not fund young people that require high care thus the fees that would be charged to the family would be so high that no-one would even consider entering the home. But, the truth remains that there are young people that require high level care and they are forced to share an environment with elderly, demented residents. You can just imagine what this would do to their mental state. Many would become depressed, isolated and suffer major self esteem issues.

Just imagine if you were 30 years old, and you have been in an accident / had a CVA / suffer end stage MS. You would require high level care and the only place you can go to is the local nursing home, where the staff are only familiar to the needs of the elderly, so they treat you as if you were a demented elderly person. Your pride, dignity, whole sense of self is taken away from you because the government only provides you with one option of care (apart from home care, which is not always possible).

The young residents I have looked after were lucky in some ways. By entering our home, they had two young managers (both of us are in our early 30’s), and so too are the support staff. The mean age in our home is 38. We allowed them to remain in their rooms for most of the day, we ensured the family provided companions to sit with them throughout the day to keep them company. We allowed them to come out after all the elderly residents had gone to bed to do their activities, socialise or watch TV on the plasma, we took them to the RSL club up the road for a few drinks and get out like young people do. We reflected their needs as young people in their care plans and ensure the care was carried out, but how many other places do this?

So, why don’t we have nursing homes for young people? Why doesn’t the government recognise this need and provide the relevant funding? I think that the government needs to made aware of this issue, and it is problematic. There are more young people requiring high level care as people are suffering strokes younger and younger due to obesity and smoking related problems. People are getting dementia younger and younger that is related to substance abuse. I would love to work or manage a home for young people who require high care, as they too deserve a place where they can be cared for with respect, kindness and an understanding for their needs. The families deserve piece of mind knowing that they can place their wife, brother, sister, or husband in residential care and that they will not deteriorate due to depression or a lack of love for life.

What do you think? Is it worth starting to campaign for this cause? What do you think we can do? Let’s help these young people and show them that they too can have good quality of life.

Photo source (gettyimages.com)

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Free airconditioners for the elderly, is this the answer?

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 by shoils

Whilst getting my daily dose of the news online I came across an article headed AMA’s Airconditioner Plan for the Elderly

aircondition

It seems that the Victorian government is going to offer those elderly people in public housing a free airconditioner, and for those supporting themselves a rebate up to $1000 when they get an aircondioner or Block-out blinds installed to their homes (means tested ofcourse).

Last January, 248 elderly people died as a result of the heat of the summer. 46% of ambulance call outs were for elderly people with heat stroke and emergency admissions rose 12% in which 37% of that was due to elderly coming in suffering heat related issues.

We all know that the elderly are particularly frail and those of us who work in aged care know how much our elderly residents don’t notice the heat. In fact most of the time they walk around wearing cardigans or jackets despite temperatures exceeding 30 degrees. No matter how much we tell them to drink, take off the cardigan and nylon stockings they still insist wearing clothes that add a few degrees to their core temperature and refuse to drink anything other than tea.

I have even looked after residents in the past that have insisted on having the heater on during the sweltering heat! If we are witnessing this behaviour in our residential facilities what is happening to the elderly living at home alone with no one to watch out for their well being?

I think this step by government is a good start to care for the elderly but they have forgotten one thing….. who is going to make sure that the airconditioners are on and working? Whilst many elderly people living at home are not demented and are quite capable of looking after themselves they fail to recognise that elderly people do not feel the heat before it is too late. Then there is the issue that even though they have an airconditioner installed most of them will not run it as they don’t want to pay for the large energy bill they will get for that quarter, particularly those that are on a pension that can’t afford it even if they wanted too.

I admire the government for trying and particularly the AMA for recognising this problem but is this really the answer to the problem?

What do you think? Will this help? Or will this just take money out of the health budget and in the end we will still see the same amount of elderly people in hospital with heat related problems and we will have less money to treat them with?

Photo source (http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/air-conditioner.html)

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Most Memorable Moment

Friday, November 20th, 2009 by shoils

Most of us nurses have an abundance of memorable moments, funny ones, horrible ones, intriguing ones, etc. But, I have one moment that was truly humbling. It was a moment that will never leave me for as long as I live.

Palliative careI had this amazing resident that I looked after as an AIN, RN and as a manager. She was in the same facility for 8 years. I used to call her Nanny. She was a Registered nurse from WW2 days. She was the resident that I would go to if i had any issues just to talk (she was a world of wisdom).

When I returned to this home as the manager, she was still alive but much different. Her communication and cognition had deteriorated significantly. However, she still knew who I was and expressed how proud she was of me to be the manager of the facility.

As her time drew close to an end, her body began to deteriorate and she got several pressure sores despite all the intervention and care we were giving her. Each day, I would soak her heels in saline and re-do her dressings, give her entire body a massage with lavender oil, change her sheets and administer pain relief (morphine) to make her comfortable. It was time for her to go. She knew it, her youngest Son knew it, but her eldest son was not ready to accept this.

My Nanny continued to deteriorate, but for some reason, she would not pass on. Myself and my wonderful EEN approached her eldest son and talked to him about saying goodbye to his mother. He did not understand why she was still holding on, and watching her deteriorate like this was the most stressful and distressing thing he had ever experienced. I sat with him, and explained to him that his mother was waiting for him to say his goodbye. She wanted to know that he was going to be OK if she went. Nanny was not in pain, she was very clearly comfortable sleeping peacefully, now not responding verbally to anything. But, she looked like she was in a beautiful place. Just where you would hope one would be at the end. Her son came inside Nanny’s room and sat by her bed. I gently encouraged him to talk to her, as she can hear him. And, I listened to him say his goodbyes. He kissed her on the cheek and sat holding one hand, whilst I sat holding her other hand, stroking her hair. Within 10 minutes, she passed away.

Now, I had been witness to many elderly people pass on. But, this was the most peaceful, calming beautiful experience I had ever felt. The room felt warm, the light coming from the window made it look like the scene on the movie Ghost, when people die and float up to heaven. I cannot do it justice explaining it in words. Her son felt it too. He got up, gave me and my EEN a big hug, and thanked us. He was so grateful to be at the moment of his mother’s passing. It was a gift better than any other.

I, too, felt honoured to be there at Nanny’s passing. She had meant so much to me, she was “my  Nanny” and to this day, I think back at the memory and smile. And, I still think about her regularly and wonder if she is watching me from above (and you know, sometimes I can feel her around me). I just have to stop for a minute look to the sky, smile and say “Nanny, I miss you”

I know you have all had a memorable moment in your career, or even as a student on prac, so what was it? What was your most memorable moment?

picture source (http://www.goldbamboo.com/pictures-t2924.html)

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Why Choose Aged Care?

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 by shoils

This is a guide for those who are about to embark on a nursing career outside of University or for those of you who are thinking of a career change.

Why choose aged care, you ask?

When you think of aged care, what comes to mind? Old helpless people, showers, making beds, smelly nursing homes (the types you see being sanctioned on TV)? Let’s face it. who wants to work in a nursing home? We are told it is where you go to end your career not start your career. Well, put aside your stereotypical thoughts and keep reading.

Aged care nursingThere is such a shortage of young energetic nurses in this field. In fact, it is very rare that you will find a new grad going down the aged care path. The situation has gotten so bad that even the universities have changed their curriculum.

Once upon a time (not that long ago), you used to do a semester of aged care in first year. That was your basic nursing skills taught right there. How to make a bed, shower, simple wound management, TPR’s BP, etc. When I went to have a look at what universities are doing now… some universities don’t even have gerontology in their core subjects, it is an elective, and all of the universities don’t teach gerontology until 3rd year when you have already made up your mind where you would like to head with your career. Most new grads don’t even know that you can do a new graduate program in aged care. Believe it or not, yes, yes you can (I did it 8 yrs ago through aged care career pathways).

No wonder no-one chooses aged care as a career. Why would you when other specialities are portrayed more exciting?

Well, I’ll tell you why. No matter what field you work in, you will end up looking after the elderly, unless you specialise in midwifery or paediatrics. 80% of hospital patients are elderly. I found that out during my training when most of the wards I visited were full of geriatrics anyway. The other thing is when you work on a ward let’s say orthopaedics for arguments sake, you specialise in that field, you concentrate on that area only see the patient for a short time, then send them on their merry way hopefully never to see them again.

When you work in an aged care facility, you have to know it all. It is exceptionally comprehensive. The patients (or residents) have a multitude of issues. And, they are there for the long haul, so as an aged care nurse, you need to have knowledge in everything, otherwise, you are not providing holistic care.

The type of things you need to know are: mental health nursing, neurology, wound management, drug and alcohol rehab nursing, orthopaedics, respiratory, cardiac, urology, gastroenterology, pharmacology, palliative care, rheumatology, emergency medicine, gynaecology, diabetes management, stoma management and much more. Now, on top of all this, you also have to have some insight and knowledge into some of these allied health areas such as: OT, physiotherapy, speech pathology, dietician, social working and counselling, OH&S, fire safety officer.

As I mentioned before,  it is very comprehensive. For those of you who think you would lose skills working in an aged care facility, well it is the opposite. It may not be as technical as acute care nursing, but honestly, the only thing you don’t do that the hospital staff do is cannulate and work a drip pump, otherwise, we do everything hospital staff get to do. We also get slightly more of a say in what treatments our residents get as opposed to hospital patients. You get to work very closely with GPs, and they discuss with  you what is the best treatment you resident needs, rather than telling you what your patient’s treatment will be. The buck basically stops with you. You are the advocate for the resident.

The relationships you build with the residents are remarkable. How many people can say they have 44 grandparents (or however many are in the home)? Each and every resident touches your heart. For me, I get very attached to the demented ones (don’t ask me why but they just make me laugh the most). I’m sure, you get attached to patients on the ward, but the reality is, they are just in the acute setting for a very short time. Some of our residents have been with us for many years, so you can just imagine the bond you develop with the resident and their family.

Last but not least… It is incredibly (and surprising to many) how rewarding it actually is. It is true nursing the way it was supposed to be. Caring for every aspect of the patient not just one area. When you get a thank you from a resident or a relative, and their face lights up, you get this warm and fuzzy feeling that you just can’t beat. You have made their life that little bit more bearable and made them comfortable in the final moments. I can tell you there is no greater honour and nothing more special.

When choosing your specialty as you are about to graduate from Uni,  or you are seeking a new area to nurse in, don’t forget there is a specialty that greatly needs you and you may just enjoy embarking on the journey of aged care nursing.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about aged care nursing? What are your feelings about it?

source of photo: (www.abc.net.au/reslib/200707/r163434_602202.jpg)

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Advantages of being a member of the NSWNA

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 by NU_Editor

hand_in_hand-ilco-sxcSince becoming a member of the NSWNA, I have had a many chances to expand my horizons. I am very proud to be a Delegate for our branch of the union.

I count it a privelege to be able to represent the members. I enjoy taking part in workshops and trying to find a better way to deal with issues that arise in the workplace.

The last twelve months especially have been hectic with the “Because We Care” campaign. I use many diffferent means to inform the members of  what is happening in the aged care sector. Facebook has become a very useful tool. Nurse Uncut was also a challenge for me to write blog entries. It has been a huge learning curve. But, I enjoyed being able to share, and hopefully, give others a better idea of what truly goes on in aged care.

One of the main things that I promote to the staff at the moment is the legal assistance of NSWNA membership. We are vulnerable as a workforce in aged care. You see, we can be accussed of all kinds of things. I remind members of how much legal costs could cost them if they get in a mess. NSWNA can help members when such legal issues arise.

Other than such assistance, I also love going to annual conferences, as I find it to be a source of information and lots of energy. It is also a very important networking time. Nurses from all sectors get together and can exchange information and ideas. The recent rally, for example, was fantastic. It was so much fun.

Also, to me, one of the most exciting thing that happened this year that is associated with my being a Delegate would be the  interview with The Australian newspaper. I found it to be a great chance to let the public know that nurses in aged care are going to be worse off. It was good to be able to bring attention to the aged care campaign.

I have also had the oppurtunity to make lots of new friends and contacts.This is something I feel is great about the NSWNA. We all support each other, even if we don’t agree all the time.

Are you a member of a nursing organisation? What do you think are the best parts of being a member? Any special events or activities that you’d like to share with us?

Image source: Ilco via sxc.hu

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