Nutrition and Wound Healing Pressure injury prevalence has been reported at 16-23% Chronic leg ulcers affect 1-3% of people aged over 60years, with incidence increasing up to 5-10% in the 80+ age group. (3,4). Wounds can include pressure ulcers, wounds post-surgery or trauma and wounds or ulcers as a result of Diabetes. The presence of...
IDDSI (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative) is being implemented from May 1st 2019. IDDSI provides a standardised framework for the terminology and definitions for modified diets and thickened fluids. There are many differences between the current Australian Standards and IDDSI. IDDSI Implementation Advice #1 – Bread is only suitable for residents on a regular diet....
Speech pathologists can play a crucial role in facilitating and optimising communication and mealtime experiences in a persons journey through the end stages of their life. As a person enters the Palliative or end of life stages, speech pathology involvement typically transitions from a rehabilitative approach towards facilitating and optimising quality of life. The phycho-social,...
People who have respiratory conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) face a number of difficulties. One common but not often discussed difficulty is with swallowing or ‘dysphagia’. Why might swallowing be a problem? Swallowing is a fast and complex process which involves the careful coordination of breathing and the temporary closing off of...
As we all know, aged care is a very different specialty area to other areas of dietetics and as such, our practices tend to run by different recommendations and guidelines. The management of residents with diabetes no different. What is diabetes? There are two main types of diabetes, in which either of the following occur;...
Deserving of focus is vitamin D, which is important for a number of functions, including maintaining bone health and decreasing risk of osteoporosis and osteomalacia, immune function, helping to maintain healthy skin, and maintaining muscle strength. Severe vitamin D deficiency may cause bone and muscle pain in addition to weakness, which may mean exercise will...
Optimal nutrition is fundamental to supporting quality of life and encouraging the best possible health outcomes in the aged care population. Undernutrition is generally more of a concern than over-nutrition in this population group and therefore restricted diets are not recommended for the aged unless absolutely necessary.
Have you considered how you speak to residents living in your facility and especially those with a diagnosis of dementia? Research tells us that our communication may not be aligned with best practice. Elderspeak is a term that refers to the change in communication style that occurs between older adults and their families and carers....
A resident’s nutritional status/diagnosis is important to assess within Aged Care. There is no one clinical tool or measure used but a number of measures are considered in conjunction, when making a judgement on nutritional status. These include the nutritional screening tool, food diary and the monthly weighs used to assess weight loss and calculate...
Choking is the second most common preventable cause of death in Australian aged care facilities. In Victoria alone, there were 89 choking deaths between 2000 and 2012, and adults over 85yrs accounted for the majority of deaths. Choking has the potential to cause brain injury and death due to cardiac arrest within minutes. It is...
