Over 13 per cent of the current Australian population is over the age of 65 years. By 2030, this percentage is predicted to jump to over 21 per cent. As the percentage of our population over the age of 65 years continues to increase, there are a number of important issues that we need to think about, including aged care nursing.
Whether you are thinking about the possibility of entering into an aged care nursing career, or planning to place yourself or someone you love under the care of an aged car nurse, there is a whole lot of information that you need to know and consider before you make any decisions.
Different Types of Aged Care Services Provided
Age care nursing can take place in a range of aged care facilities including in the home or the community, in rehabilitation units, in hospitals and in residential care. Having this range of aged care facilities available means that older Australians can find a setting that suits their needs best, and aged care nurses can also find a setting that they are best able to work in. But let us look at these aged care facilities more closely.
When looking at community aged care services, it involves older people being visited in their home and/or in community centers based within the wider community. Nurses in this area may choose to work independently, with families and the community’s health care providers, or in multidisciplinary teams.
Rehabilitation refers to helping people to regain their optimal level of functioning after a serious medical condition or surgical experience or maintain their best level possible of functioning, health and independence. Rehabilitation is used for a number of conditions and problems, from fractures to amputations to strokes; and patients requiring multidisciplinary assessment and diagnosis will also benefit from rehabilitation.
In hospitals, acute care nurses are responsible for the care of the patients while they are admitted, and will develop a thorough understanding of the patient’s medical history and needs. When the patient’s stay in hospital is coming to an end, acute care nurses will also work together with the nurses in the community to create a plan to effectively treat the patient at home, after they are discharged from hospital.
Residential care refers to modern nursing homes. The idea of a nursing home may scare some people, based on the horror stories and Hollywood films that unfairly give residential care facilities a bad name. However, the aim of a residential care facility is to promote optimal health and improve the quality of life for the elderly people who live there. Residential care facilities normally suit older people who can no longer care for themselves for various reasons. People in residential care are in no way cut-off from the rest of the world and their families, in particular, are encouraged to stay actively involved in their lives. Modern residential care facilities work hard to make the residents feel at home, comfortable, supported and interested in living to the best of their ability.
Aged Care Facilities Sydney Opportunities
Being an aged care nurse means that you have the opportunity to explore a number of roles throughout your career. You may be involved in health promotion and family education tasks for the wider community to benefit from; or you may work with patients in any of the various aged care facilities. You will, however, be able to develop a great range of strong skills in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of older people. And this is on top of the specific skills that you will develop in relation to your particular chosen area of practice. Aged care facilities Sydney extend to nurses the opportunity to be comfortably employed in any of the various aged care service settings available. There are also Sydney nursing agencies out there with the purpose of helping nurses gain meaningful employment in this field.
Aged Care Australia
Finally, for all the information that you could ever need about aged care services, Aged Care Australia is a fantastic website developed by the Australian Government to answer all your questions, simply type in www.agedcareaustralia.gov.au, and away you go!