Infection Control

Infection Control is a very important part of working in the health care industry. It is important for two reasons, the health and safety of the client and the health and safety of the aged care worker. It applies to registered nurses, care workers and domestic/kitchen staff. Even administrative staff need to be aware of basic infection control.
So, what causes infection? We must understand what causes infection so that we may participate in infection control effectively. Infection is caused by pathogens which may otherwise be known simply as bugs! Pathogens include:

•  bacteria
•  viruses
•  protozoa
•  fungi

which may cause probelms if they get into out bodies. Infection control refers to preventing these pathogens from entering our bodies. This may involve staff training and providing adequate equipment to minimize risk.



Transmission of disease occurs when pathogens are spread so we need to develop an understanding of how they can enter our bodies and be spread from one person to another. There are several ways this can happen.

• Airborne transmission occurs when we cough or sneeze.
• Contamination: the pathogens in human faeces may be spread via food or objects.
• Touch: pathogens my be spread by skin to skin contact such as shaking hands  or  kissing.
• Body Fluids: Saliva, urine faeces and blood all carry pathogens that may be transmitted through cuts or mucous membranes fom one person to another.

Ride of his Life

Continuing on with the theme of positive ageing, I would like to tell you about a person who I believe to be a classic example of this. His name is Doug Sunderland and he is a truly inspirational older person, down to earth Ausiie and no fuss crusader of life! Doug suffered the loss of his wife and was also diagnosed with prostate cancer. These events had him feeling pretty down and his doctor suggested that he "get on his bike" as there was no guarantee that he would be around too long. Having been a motor cycle enthusiast all his life,  Doug decided to hit the road. He travelled to numerous countries and rode his bike in many locations. Doug was recently featured on ABC Television's Australian Story program, which manily focused on his most recent ride. What Doug refers to as chucking another lap of Australia. At age 85 he took off on his bike, solo around Australia, sleeping rough on the side of the road and eating canned food.
Before he left on this incredible journey, he befriended a young man named Kristopher Growcott. Kris was concerned about Doug going off on this long journey that covered many isolated places. He also knew that Doug was prone to not eating and Kris would rather that he slept comfortably and safely along the way, particularly at his age. Kris created a facebook page called Cavalry of One and it soon had many fans, many of them motorcycling enthusiasts.Todat the page has 4578 "likes".  The word soon spread about Doug and his adventure and many people in numerous locations around Australia offered Doug a room for the night and a nourishing meal.
Doug, being a man of simple needs could not understand what all the fuss was about and failed to see why people would put up a total stranger in their homes. He didn't really care for all the fuss and bother to begin with but he phoned his friend Kris daily to update him on his whereabouts and adventures and Kris in turn updated the facebook page. On the last leg of the journey Kris rode to meet Doug and accompany him home to the end of his trip.
I invite you to check out the Australian Story program to view the whole story and I am sure you will agree that Doug Sunderland is a special older person with a very positive attitude to his life and is getting on with his life despite his loss and health problems. I must also mention that his friend Kris is also an inspirational young man. Check out these links.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/CavalryofOne
www.abc.net.au/austory/

Positive Ageing

Positive Ageing is a concept or an idea that it is possible to age in a positive way. Our society embraces and worships youth and beauty and as we age these things often do not come with us into our latter years. Society's general view is that people are not as attractive as they age. Beauty contests are for young people in their prime or perhaps for babies.  As the furrows of time bestow themselves on our faces and our bodies succumb to the ravages of gravity we can find other ways to remain positive.
When you are employed in the aged care industry it is easy to percieve older people as slow, immobile, demented and generally needing care. We don't see the older people in our society that are still fit active and mentally alert in their nineties unless they are on the television. The people that make it to the TV news usually sit proudly behind a cake that requires a fire brigade escort due to the 100 plus candles burning upon it. They often have a 'secret' to their longevity, which may be some rebellious statement that flies in the face of the sterotype of older people. " I smoked a pack a day and drank a bottle of whisky every week! then there is the octogenerian who has just tandem jumped out of an  aeroplane, grinning like an adolescent saying ' I can't wait to do it again'.
These are the older people that we love. So what is it that we love about them? We love their zest for life and that they are still fully engaged in their lives and in society despite their ailments.
I am sure the Dept Health and Ageing website would list some suggestions for positive ageing such as:

• Following a healthy diet
• Getting regular excercise
• Visiting the doctor regularly
• Staying engaged in the community

Of course all these things contribute to positive ageing but it is ultimately our attitude and willingness to stay connected that helps us to age gracefully or as many a baby boomer would cite, age disgracefully.....

• What are your attitudes to older people?
• What do your friends and family think?
• How do you see older people portrayed in our society?

Do you uphold and support the sterotypes or do you believe in and support older people to rebel and live their lives to the full right to the end?

What is Dementia?

Dementia is often thought of as a disease. It is in fact a symptom brought about by many different diseases which have associated dementias with different root causes. People affected by dementia experience changes to memory, personality, communication and activities of daily living. The department of health and Ageing in Australia states, It is estimated that around 250,000¹ people in Australia have dementia. As Australia's population ages, more people will be affected by dementia.

Alzheimer’s disease: By far the most common dementia causing disease, causes damage to the brain where neurons and transmitters degenerate and form plaques and tangles in the brain. This is a progressive disease meaning that it becomes worse over time.

Vascular Dementia: is the second most common cause of dementia. It affects the brain by causing little bleeds, as the blood vessels in the brain breakdown as a result of general cardio vascular disease.

Parkinson’s disease: is a disease of the central nervous system, which can affect the brain in approximately 20 % of people with Parkinson’s disease

Other diseases which may cause dementia are, dementia with lewy bodies (which causes a buildup of protein in the brain), Huntington’s disease, Cruetzfeld Jacob disease, alcohol related dementia and Pick’s disease. These diseases are less common than Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular dementia.

I will not go into the details of all these diseases in this post however you may wish to research these further yourself. I have included a link to Department of Health and Ageing Website (Australia) below. This site is a wealth of information for aged care students and older people themselves.

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/dementia-1

Mind Your Back!

Hello, welcome to my first blog. I am very excited about all this space to write in and look forward to bringing you some relevant and hopefully entertaining information. The topic for todays blog is back care. Of course these days, everyone has their mandatory manual handling training before they are allowed out on the floor or in to the clients' home, right? Whilst this is good practice, I am compelled to ask is it enough? I know it complies with the standards but is it actually working to prevent back injuries? Is it in fact being put into practice by staff or are they doing there own thing once they get out there? Cutting corners? Well, we are all pushed for time in this industry aren't  we? Lots of questions........ and I have a feeling they will lead to more questions rather than answers.
Does your facility have someone available to staff that can mentor and support them to adopt good practice in manual handling? If there is a person assigned this role... the OHS representative or perhaps it's the  physio in your organisation, whoever it is, what is their approach? Is it a big brother, "do as I say" approach? Is there room to soften the approach? Shift the focus from policing to support and dare I say it even 'dare to care' for direct care staff.
I believe that the way treat staff in our organisations ultimately determines how our clients and residents are treated. What I am trying to say is that the workplace culture,starts at the top with upper management and filters down through the ranks to direct care workers who have the most contact with clients.
Are staff pressured and stressed, feeling like they have to cut corners, feeling unsupported? These feelings can create the workplace culture, if we let them. Here are a few examples:
In your organisation, which shift is doing the lion's share of the showers? Are they all still being done in the morning or are some clients happy to have a lie in and have a late morning, early afternoon or evening shower? Cramming all the showers into one shift creates stress, and unhappiness (for staff and clients) This also creates stress on the backs and joints of staff who are repeatedly showering in a short period of time. In any 24 hour period showers and heavy manual handling tasks can be evenly spread out over the shifts to ensure everybody bears some of the load and reduces the strain on the body and stress in the mind.  I challenge you to talk to your clients and see if you can meet their needs and at the same time reduce manual handling strain.