GERIATRIC PATIENT CARE

As life expectancies increase and the population ages, the care of elderly patients by healthcare professionals has become more and more significant. The care for older patients and the knowledge of medical problems specific to this age group is the daily responsibility of geriatric or gerontological nurse practitioners. They often work as caregivers in assisted living facilities, nursing homes, home health care and the Acute Care for Elderly (ACE) units of hospitals.

The training of geriatric nurses includes care for challenges that are specific to older patients, like suffering from more than one symptom, being bedridden, or even being in need of long term care. The care and evaluation of a decubitus in any stage, repositioning and cleaning the patient, wound dressing, bed baths, denture placement and care, and hearing aid placement are just a few of the skills a geriatric nurse needs to possess.

With geriatric patient care manikins, geriatric nurses train all procedures specific to adult and elderly patients as mentioned above, but also skill training in catheterization, enema administration, gastrostomy procedures, ostomy care, tracheostomy care, positioning and transferring a patient, pap smears and douching, and prostate exams.

Medical simulation is an effective way for procedure demonstration, skill training and assessment in nurse training before the nurse practitioner works with a real patient. 3B Scientific® offers geriatric patient care manikins and simulators for nurse training of patient care procedures specific to the challenges and medical problems of older patients.