What is aged care nursing?
In the home, throughout the community, in hospitals, rehabilitation units and residential care facilities, aged care nurses can hold many different roles at various levels. These range from health promotion and family education in the community to aged care facilities and nursing homes. These nurses need well developed assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation skills in relation to older people as well as knowledge and skills specific to their chosen area of practice.

Aged care nurses work in a range of settings, including:

Community
Nurses who choose to work in the home and/or community settings will find many opportunities to work independently, in partnership with families and local community health care providers or in small multidisciplinary teams. Many will visit clients in their homes while others will be based in community centres.

Acute Care
As patients’ length of stay in hospital reduces, effective discharge planning creates another major challenge for acute care nurses. In addition to having a thorough understanding of the patient’s disease, its management and the patient’s abilities and personal resources, aged care nurses also liaise closely with community nurses and other health care providers to develop an effective plan of care at home. This helps to ensure that patients will be able to manage following discharge.

Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is all about helping people to maintain and/or regain optimal levels of function, health and independence. Nurses in this area look after patients who may have any of a wide range of problems. Some will have easily identifiable problems such as a stroke, amputation or fractures. Others will be recovering from acute medical or serious surgical episodes, as well as those who are debilitated as a result of complicated health issues. Yet other patients will be admitted for multidisciplinary assessment and diagnosis.

Residential Care
Modern nursing homes strive to promote optimal health and quality of life. They cater for older people who are unable to continue caring for themselves in relation to day-to-day activities. Family members are encouraged to remain actively involved with their older relative and the environment is designed to promote a feeling of home.

Each day, these registered nurses will be involved in the planning and direction of individualised nursing care for residents. As most residents are over 80 years of age, they have a variety of chronic conditions and diseases that present challenges to nurses in this role. They must have high-level assessment skills and specialised knowledge to be able to diagnose, plan and implement appropriate care. Responsibilities range from managing and improving an individual’s mobility, pain management, wound care, continence management, palliative care and other chronic conditions which may reduce their quality of life.

Aged care nurses need to be excellent communicators, as advocating for their patients, coordinating multidisciplinary team members, and counselling and supporting family members are integral components of providing care to this patient population.

How do I become an aged care nurse?
Depending upon their chosen area of practice and specific interest, nurses considering a career in aged care can choose from a variety of postgraduate courses. These range from gerontological nursing, rehabilitation, health education, public health, cognitive and behavioural studies, psychogeriatrics, acute medical/surgical nursing, rural and remote health, advanced clinical nursing, to health administration, management, leadership and business. For more information on postgraduate course availability in this area, click here to go to the further education section.

What opportunities are available for aged care nurses?
With Australia’s ageing population, nurses in this field are in great demand as the growth in aged care nursing continues. Nurses experienced in this area can move into research, education and a variety of management positions, should they wish to leave the ‘bedside’ setting.

Aged care experience can also compliment additional studies in areas like optometry, audiology, mental health, psychology and human movements if you would really like to become a specialist in any of these fields. Aged care nursing is really an ever-growing and ever-developing field!

Where can I get more information on aged care nursing?
For more information on aged care nursing, you can contact:

CNC – Geriatric Unit
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Phone: 3240 2111 or 3240 5157 (pager 139)

Clinical Manager
Moreton Bay Nursing Care Unit
Phone: 07 3893 8441

Nurse Educator
Education Centre
Royal Brisbane Hospital
Phone: 07 3636 8554