Are Medication Competent Carers the Future of Aged Care?

MedeHealth initially pondered this question five years ago. Good medication management is vital.The answer to the question is a resounding yes and there are a number of reasons for this.How many carers are there in Australia?Australia has over 2.7 million carers, 12% of the population. The chances are you personally are a carer, need a carer or know a carer, and they are responsible for many tasks including medication management. ( http://www.carersaustral...

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Nurse Initiated Medicines: Are You Sure?

Nurse Initiated Medicines are simple over-the-counter medicines which can be used for some ailments in care recipients of aged care facilities. These ailments generally include pain, constipation and reflux. In order to administer these medicines they must be selected from a list which is determined by a Medication Advisory Committee at the aged care facility and signed by a doctor, thereby allowing their use.But the real question is – are nurse initiated medicines harmless and able to be g...

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Danger and the Risk of Death: Minor burns in the elderly

Keeping up with best practice guidelines can be challenging. A good example of this are the guidelines associated with minor burns in the elderly. When an elderly care recipient is on the receiving end of a minor burn, referring them to a Burns Unit makes up part of the current recommendations issued by the Australian and New Zealand Burns Association (ANZBA).Minor burns are not so minorAs we grow older our skin becomes thinner, we develop more health-related complications, and the ability ...

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Are you managing the risks associated with hazardous medications correctly?

So, what’s the issue with drugs as hazardous substances?Hazardous drugs are medications that can have serious adverse effects on a worker’s health if exposure to these substances occurs.Legislation surrounding the treatment of hazardous substances can be found at state level with changes occurring regularly. This creates the complex issue of different requirements for different states. While many aged care facilities have policies and education for the safe handling of chemical substan...

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How to make sense of Legislation, Standards and Guidelines affecting Residential Aged Care

People in any healthcare business have to deal with the complexities of legislation, standards and guidelines. But what is the difference between these three words, and how can you convey this information to staff while being able to show the link between training and continuous improvement.If legislation, standards and guidelines in residential aged care are broken down, we can see how they relate to one another. It can be as simple as 1, 2, 3.1. LegislationLegislation is a directive from the g...

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