HammondCare to train health professionals in aged care settings

Aged care provider HammondCare have just announced that they have received a Federal grant to help fund training programs for undergraduate doctors, nurses and other health workers at a variety of their aged care settings.

Considering most patients in our hospitals are old and frail and in the future many more will have some form of memory loss, you'd think that education would have moved into aged care long ago.

A while back there was a rumour that universities had stopped sending first year nurses into residential care in their first semester as they were more likely to drop out of nursing. I'm not sure this is entirely true but I haven't seen students in residential care on placement for a long time.

Many young doctors and nurses have the perception that working in aged care is somehow less clinical or professional than an acute hospital. This of course isn't true, as many registered nurses working in aged care know, any professional caring for older people in a residential setting or at home need a broad range of clinical skills.

Older people in residential care may present more often with non- urgent symptoms than in an acute hospital but it doesn't mean they require less qualified attention. I think it's a great initiative that over time could potentially change the face of aged care.

Their only obstacle?? No matter how great a training program is, if students aren't matched with other health professionals that they can look up to, people that are inspiring, intelligent and passionate about what they do the program could falter. But something tells me things are changing and HammondCare could be the one to lead the way.