Overview

Editors:

Margaret McMillan and Isabel Higgins
Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, NSW

In Australia, as in much of the rest of the Western world, a number of political, social and technical factors have resulted in a need for the aged care sector and the nursing profession more broadly to modify their skill mix in order to better respond to changes in the needs of older Australians.

In particular, Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) in Australia face a number of significant issues including:

• the need to respond to policy changes emphasising efficiency in RACFs
• the nature of the needs of residents with increasing acuity
• the impact of decreasing numbers of Registered Nurses working in the RAC environment
• the aging of the workforce
• the changing composition of the residential care team and changing roles within that team

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The aged care sector will continue to be instrumental in differentiating the scope of practice for those in the health care workforce and in delineating expectations of health workers, including nurses, educated to a range of qualifications. Perhaps now, more than 20 years after the transfer of registered nurse education to the university sector in Australia, the profession's aspirations for enacting the capacity to lead and reform practice promised by degree qualifications for RNs will come to fruition.

Jane Conway, Contemporary Nurse vol. 26(2), pp 221-224

Table of Contents

Foreword

ANMC National Guidelines on Boundaries of Professional Practice for Nurses and Midwives
Denise Sharp

Innovations in the Care of Older People

Editorial: Issues in Older Person Nursing
Isabel Higgins

Towards Innovation: The development of a person-centred model of care for older people in acute care
Carmel Peek, Isabel Higgins, Sally Milson-Hawke, Margaret McMillan, Deborah Harper

Trends and Challenges in the Management of Tracheostomy in Older People: The need for a multidisciplinary team approach
Vicki Parker, Gai Shylan, Wendy Archer, Paula McMullen, Kelvin Smith, Michelle Giles, Jane Morrison, Nikki Austin

Advance Care Planning (ACP): The nurse as 'broker' in residential aged care facilities
Sarah Yeun-Sim Jeong, Isabel Higgins, Margaret McMillan

Gender, Health and Family Perspectives

Editorial: Person Centered Care: A philosophy of care and management of carers
Helen Bellchambers, Carol Penning

Urinary Stress Incontinence and Overactive Bladder Symptoms in Older Women
Pauline Chiarelli

The Immediate Needs of Relatives During the Hospitalisation of Acutely Ill Older Relatives
Isabel Higgins, Terry Joyce, Vicki Parker, Mary Fitzgerald, Margaret McMillan

Professional Nursing Issues

Editorial: The Changing Skill Mix and Scope of Practice of Health Care Workers in New South Wales: Implications of education and training reforms for registered nurse practice, performance, and education
Jane Conway

The Negative Attitudes of Nurses Towards Older Patients in the Acute Hospital Setting: A qualitative descriptive study
Isabel Higgins, Pamela van der Riet, Lynne Slater, Carmel Peek

Delirium Dichotomy: A review of recent literature
Sue Brown, Mary Fitzgerald