Caregiving and dementia/Projects/Graduate certificate in dementia care nursing

This page describes a Dementia Training Study Centre project.

Graduate certificate in dementia care nursing

Overview

This project resulted in the availability of a post-graduate certificate specifically designed to prepare registered nurses (RNs) for their leadership role in the delivery of care to people with dementia. While being based on the Graduate Certificate in Dementia Care offered by the University of Wollongong it offers options from a range of nursing specific modules written for the course and/or provided by other Universities from their existing courses. The course is delivered by distance education methods so that it is available nationally.

The course reflects the competency standards developed under project 5.3.

The overall aim of this project was to professionalise the nursing workforce through the provision of a dementia specific qualification in nursing care. This project:

1. Established a national post graduate course for RNs that will prepare them for the responsibilities of managing and delivering care to people with dementia.
2. Provided opportunities for the integration of existing modules from other Universities
3. Enabled UoW to offer the course, in collaboration with other Universities, on a national basis in 2012.

As the number of RNs in aged care decreases, their direct care roles are being taken over by personal care assistants [5] with RNs often required to play a managerial role in dementia units in residential aged care, acute care and community based dementia services. They do so without any specific dementia training in their undergraduate curriculum[1] and are not well prepared for their roles in managing or advising on the care of patients with dementia [2].

This project addresses the provision of the formal education requirement identified as a need in the existing literature [2].

More information

1. TBA