Nutrition: Explain the special needs of an aged patient associated with nutrition? Explain the emotional and physical reasons behind aged people not getting adequate nutrition? Explain the impact of society on the food habits of an aged person? Some of these questions can be asked in the final assessment papers or in assignments. The importance of nutrition and eating habits is evident from the improved healing capacity of elderly patients. It includes topics like studying micronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, fats, and vitamins. Also, the positive, as well as the negative impact of foods in specific diseases like blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, can be a matter of concern for aged care professionals.
Family dynamics: The role of family members in caring for elderly persons can be a game-changer for their overall recovery. However, in the contemporary society burdened with hyper-aging, long-term care for an aged person can demand a lot in terms of financial and physical efforts. This directly impacts the overall recovery procedure. The role played by the family in building a communication channel, proper financial planning, and making compassionate efforts, can assist in developing the emotional and psychological well-being of the diseased person.Â
Safe work practices: It includes WHS policy and procedures like Emergency procedures, Standard housekeeping, Manual handling, Personal protective equipment procedure, Standard precaution procedure, Implementing respiratory precautions, and many more. Safe work practices are generally documented procedures that outline the methods associated with performing a task with minimum risk.
Acute care: Type of care offered to usually critically ill patients with severe trauma or illness. Acute care specialists are pretty experienced and skilled accordingly to handle such cases. It also includes pre and post-operative care and certain emergency medical conditions. They play a notable role in developing a health care structure that can be helpful in reducing overall mortality and morbidity.
Lifestyle and choices: Physical activity, Sleep quality, Personal strain, Nutritional habits, Level of social activities, and Body mass index (BMI) can be the direct response of a person’s Lifestyle choices he/she makes. The impact of lifestyle choices is studied with great interest when it comes to aged care nursing. Not all but lifestyle is responsible for most of the diseases that make a considerable impact while aging. Students are trained accordingly to excel in the skills that can reduce such impacts while offering professional nursing care to the aged person.
Pharmacology: Discipline that studies the impact of a specific drug on the biological system and the way a body responds to it. It involves the therapeutic usage of the drug, it’s chemical property, its biological effects, and the overall interaction of a drug with the biological system. Students enrolled in aged care nursing must have an in-depth understanding of this subject to handle topics like System Pharmacology, Chemotherapy, Pharmacokinetics, Toxicology, Clinical Pharmacology, and many more.
Anatomy and Physiology: Our contemporary society directly relates aging with changes, be it physical like Cardiovascular changes, Reproductive changes, changes in Digestive System, And Sensory changes. Still, having a comprehensive understanding of anatomy can be very crucial for handling an aged patient professionally. Topics Like Immune System, Endocrine System, Nervous System, Musculoskeletal System, Renal System and Respiratory System forms the core of this subject.
Personal Care Assistant: Personal care assistant plays a substantial role in rehabilitating elderly person suffering from critical illness. PCA professionals are well equipped with the training for maintaining nourishment, mobility, hydration, personal hygiene, and treatment of the diseased person. However, the role of PCA differs in the case of aged people. A sense of compassion, emotional and psychological bonding with the patient help them to recover fast in many cases.
Gerontology: The study of learning social, psychological, cultural, cognitive, social, and biological aspects of growing or aging is called Gerontology. Various topics like Environmental gerontology, Jurisprudential gerontology, Biogerontology, and Social gerontology can be interesting to learn and answer in the examinations.