Comprehensive Health Assessment of the Older Adult

Course Overview

This Course will provide registered nurses and other health professionals with a detailed explanation of why and how a comprehensive health assessment (CHA) of an older adult is undertaken.

Topics

• Why conduct a comprehensive health assessment?
• What’s involved in the assessment?
• What to do when an issue is identified
• A case study to reinforce your learning

Need

Older people in all care settings have multiple health issues and are at higher risk of adverse events. To manage these risks and provide effective care for older people, health professionals need to have sound comprehensive health assessment (CHA) skills coupled with objective evidence-based reasoning.

Evaluation of a training program for CHA of the older adult in Victoria, found only a small number of participants reported undertaking CHAs. This is not surprising given the lack of availability of training for developing and updating health professionals’ skills.

Purpose

The purpose of this Course is to enhance existing knowledge and skills of registered nurses and other health professionals to improve the comprehensive assessment of older adults.

Learning Outcomes

• Use your increased knowledge to conduct a comprehensive assessment to identify older adults who would benefit from an assessment
• Identify critical components of a comprehensive assessment to ensure older adults in your care are holistically assessed
• Act on issues identified during a comprehensive assessment to ensure that effective interventions are put in place

Target Audience

This Course is relevant to all registered nurses and other health professionals working with older adults in both the inpatient setting and the community.

Disclosure

No conflict of interest exists for anyone in the position to control content for this activity. Wherever possible, generic or non-proprietary names of medications or products have been used.

Educator

Denise Simmons

Denise Simmons works on the Sunshine Coast as a Nurse Practitioner: chronic disease. The object of her service is to prevent re-admission to hospital, by providing advanced clinical service and monitoring symptoms while in the home. Denise celebrated 50 years of nursing in 2017. Her past experiences are extensive and include rural and remote, juvenile justice, ICU, accident and emergency, and palliative care. Denise has lectured at a number of universities and TAFEs throughout QLD and has worked as a hospital executive for many years.