Aldersgate Village Rotation Placement Analysis

My second rotation placement is in the Aldersgate Village dementia security unit. The Aldersgate Village, located in Newnham, Launceston, is an aged care facility. It provides residential care for both elder people and individuals with dementia (Uniting AgedWell 2017). The vision of the Aldersgate Village is to support individual ageing well. To achieve this vision, the Aldersgate Village acknowledges individuals’ unique needs, empowers them to make choices and supports independent living (Uniting AgedWell 2017). The organisation has 86 single rooms. It provides residents with a wide range of services, which includes 24/7 clinical care, social and lifestyle support, allied health, personal assistance, specialised dementia care and palliative

It also provides specialised care for individuals with moderate to severe dementia in a secure environment. It offers nursing services, lifestyle support and allied health services including podiatry, physiotherapy and speech therapy (Uniting AgedWell 2017). The dementia unit currently accommodates 20 residents. The majority residents in the dementia security unit are diagnosed with various forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia. As behavioural symptoms are the clinical manifestations of dementia, residents usually require a 24/7 care to ensure their safety and comfort. In additional, in this unit, all the residents are aged over 65 and most of them have comorbidity such as cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders. These are the key characteristics of these residents in this

In mental health context, it means that nurses should perform appropriate care to promote patient’s recovery and quality of life. To achieve these goals, nurses are required to conduct a compressive assessment, such as mini mental health assessment, risk assessment, assessing client’s thoughts, appearance and affect. Nurses also need to think critically regarding clients’ medication and their side effects. For instance, some antipsychotic drugs could affect many body systems. A holistic approach should be employed to gain the big picture of the patients. In addition, nurses have the responsiblility to report and raise any foreseeable safety issues to the clients, such as self-harm or suicidal thoughts. The incident rate of aggression in people with psychotic symptoms is high (Cornaggia et. al 2011). People with dementia may exhibit these challenging behaviours for many reasons. Nurses need to report these concerns in regards to the duty of care to the clients and to