Are you a health or social care professional working in primary or secondary care with a desire to provide high-quality care to older people? This short course focuses on developing your knowledge of medicine, health and disease in the ageing population.

Course details

This stand-alone professional development course offers you an advanced understanding of the medical care of older people. Our expert team will support you to develop your knowledge of the mechanisms of health and disease in older people encompassing physical, psychological and social perspectives. The course is aimed at health and social care professionals working in primary and secondary care and promotes shared learning experiences and multidisciplinary team working.

Our experienced and knowledgeable team will compare and contrast health in older people and younger adults to help you understand why older people have specific and unique health needs, as well as how these needs can be met. Youll investigate the changing demographics of the ageing population and consider how society must adapt for an increasing number of older people.

Together, well explore psychological decline in old age, with reference to social function and wellbeing, isolation and depression, ethical considerations and mental health legislation. You can expect to enhance your knowledge of contemporary models of understanding old age, frailty, and the factors involved in conducting a comprehensive geriatric assessment. Focusing on falls, immobility, incontinence and confusion, well consider the atypical presentation of older people with an acute physical illness. Well also cover polypharmacy and practical procedures such as urinary catheterisation.

The ultimate aim of this comprehensive and contemporary course is to support you to make more informed decisions that improve patient outcomes. Well explore the complex issues of healthcare in older people through case examples and facilitated class discussion. To benefit from studying this course, you should already a health professional with a basic understanding of healthcare in older people.

Course Highlights:

• Our dedicated academic team brings extensive health and social care experience to the course content. Along with their passion for service excellence in practice settings, theyre also currently engaged in highly relevant research, which means they can add valuable context and insight to your learning.
• The course is designed to provide the flexibility to fit in with busy home and working lives.
• As you study this course, well encourage you to develop the skills, values and behaviours so popular with employers. These include action planning, personal impact and confidence, self-awareness, social and ethical responsibility, problem-solving, initiative and communication skills.
• The course is part of a professional development framework, and you can use the credits youll gain by completing the course successfully towards the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Geriatric Medicine).