Aged care is the fastest growing sector in nursing with opportunities for nurses from all backgrounds.
Transitioning to aged care is the start of an exciting,
varied and worthwhile career.
The great thing about working with older adults
is that we have the ability as nurses to really change the quality of the life and how the
final years of their life are going to look for them. Aged care is delivered in a wide range of settings
from acute hospital wards to
rehabilitation centres and nursing homes. On the aged care ward we're really focusing on rehab and
enabling these patients to get hopefully back to home where they want to be.
We tend to get very involved in activities of daily living
so every day is getting people up, getting them walking, doing all the things that they need to return to normal life.
Just like in any clinical area, you're looking at your patient,
you're looking at the diagnosis
and you're looking at what kinds of inroads as nurses and as team members we can make with our patients.
Nurses working in the aged care sector experience diverse, rewarding and autonomous responsibilities.
Working in the aged care sector can provide you with opportunities to work in roles that require high level, critical care decisions.
It's different from hospitals, like hospital you get a very high patient turnaround,
so you might know this patient today and tomorrow
this one is discharged but in aged care it's like you have a time
to stay with them for maybe months for maybe years.
There is a lot that happens in terms of autonomy, when you're the nurse that's on duty in terms of just knowing what needs to be done if a resident
becomes unwell, you're the one mostly making the decision.
There is a lot to learn but you're not expected to learn it
all right now
because you've just... I think you've got so many years to learn even I've been a nurse for six years
there is still so many things I'm learning.
Projections show the number of Australians aged over 65 years will double over the next decade and this aging
population forms a long-term demand for nursing staff.
They're all lovely. They really are and I love talking to everybody. They're so capable
and unflappable.
I can't say enough; they're just so good what they do and make my life so... so pleasant.
They like to know what what sort of background you come from; your family.
They're always ready. You know, you you ring the bell and they're there. I just like being here all around.
In terms of being mature age,
I felt like it fitted in perfectly with having a family and a young child, and I also got the
overwhelming sense from other nurses that the industry was completely open to having
older people in and I actually felt valued I started nursing at 45 and at no point did I feel like my age was
even a consideration.
Going into nursing these days,
aged care is our core business. There's always something new to learn as well as something new to give to these people
The actual art of nursing is tested in this environment.
I find that I do like holding people's hands in those last few hours
Talking to residents and relatives
encouraging people to talk about death.
It's still, we all do it and yet there's still people I find will not talk about it or it's a taboo subject
and I think some of the most
experiences that I've enjoyed most has been when a family member has said
thank you for getting my mum to talk to me about what she wants or
visa versa, the residents saying thank you for sitting with me while I can speak to my family about
my dying process and what I want. It's more than just a job for me,
it's realising that I'm coming here to make a difference in another human's life.