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Dementia is an irreversible, slowly progressing illness and sadly the second leading cause of death in Australian people. It is the leading cause of death for women.
There are different types of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body disease. Dementia can be diagnosed in individuals in their 30s, 40s and 50s, but it is more common in people beyond 65 years of age.
This year, Dementia Australia has confirmed there are 487,500 Australians currently living with dementia. Without a medical breakthrough, the number of people diagnosed is expected to increase to almost 1.1 million by 2058.
Preventative measures to exercise the brain and aid brain cell regeneration is effective as part of a healthy lifestyle, yet in this blog our focus is purely on education for best practice person cantred care. Ensuring that care for those living with dementia effectively transitions into palliative care is vital to maintaining and supporting someone’s quality of life.
The growing urgency to better understand Dementia
More than two-thirds (68.1%) of aged care consumers living in residential aged care have moderate to severe memory loss and cognitive impairment.
Over the past decade there has been increased human rights recognition with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities coming into force. This charter of aged care rights requires people with a disability (including consumers living with dementia) to enjoy the same rights as everyone else. These rights include autonomy in decision making, independent living and community inclusion, and liberty. The Aged Care Quality Standards, through reference to dignity, respect, freedom from abuse, choice and independence, support shifts in aged care service provision consistent with human rights.
Getting dementia care right is vitally important
Almost 1.6 million people in Australia are involved in the care of someone living with dementia. Practical education for all staff working in aged care supports consumers to lead a meaningful life, conduct advance care planning and helps to uphold their rights as valued members of our society and our communities.
Kineo leads the way in health and aged care workplace digital training
The off the shelf learning library has over 100 workplace premium training titles. Several dementia-focused online courses are available that have been co-created with subject matter experts in health, disability, and aged care. Kineo Courses dementia titles align with the aged care quality standards and provide practical knowledge that can be directly applied in the workplace.
Upskilling your workforce with essential dementia care knowledge
If you oversee workers that provide care to consumers living with dementia, support your people to better understand complexities and how to best support individuals with a person-centred care approach.
Kineo Courses ‘Understanding Dementia’ suite of courses includes:
What is Dementia?
A 20-minute synopsis, built with SME Frontline Care Solutions provides an understanding of:
- what the term means
- the impact on a person living with dementia, and
- the need to provide a person-centred approach to care.
Person Centred Care
Learners will develop a deep understanding of what person-centred care means and the knowledge necessary to apply it when caring for people living with dementia. With learning content created with Frontline Care Solutions, this 20-minute online course provides an understanding of:
- what person-centred care is
- the importance of practising person-centred care
- what person-centred care might look like in practice, and
- the importance of taking care of yourself.
Effective Communication
This practical 20-minute digital training teaches the learner how to practise good, effective communication when caring for someone, including verbal and non-verbal communication. It also will teach the learner to recognise when someone is communicating a need and how to fulfil these needs while maintaining dignity of care.
End stage Dementia
- This course will provide an understanding of:
- the different diseases that can cause dementia
- the impact it can have on a person's behaviour and how this has consequences for their everyday continence care
- how to make it easier for sufferers to toilet themselves
- how to choose appropriate products to facilitate self-changing and toileting, and
- how to appropriately approach individuals.
This course is useful as standalone training for your care workers looking after people entering end stage or paired with our existing aged care courses to provide a holistic approach to aged care. The End Stage Dementia course provides focused training concerning:
- what end stage dementia is and what happens when a person in care enters end stage.
- how members of your care team can work together to provide an individual, person-centred approach to care
- managing and implementing assessment directive and planning, and
- how to make the right decisions in a very sensitive time for the person in your care.
Dementia and Incontinence
This course is a stand-alone topic co-created with subject matter expert TENA that will provide an understanding of:
- the different causal diseases
- the impact it can have on a person's behaviour and how this has consequences for their everyday continence care
- how to make it easier for sufferers to toilet themselves
- how to choose appropriate products to facilitate self-changing and toileting, and
- how to appropriately approach individuals
See for yourself why over 181,000 learners choose Kineo Courses and rate the off the shelf learning library 4.5 out of 5 stars for learner experience.
