Universitat Internacional de Catalunya - Barcelona

Caregiving for the Elderly

• code 09087
• course 3
• term Semester 2
• type OB
• credits 4

Module: Module Nursing Care from Birth to Death

Matter: Nursing Care for Elder

Main language of instruction: Catalan

Other languages of instruction: Spanish

Head instructor

Dra. María Ángeles DE JUAN - mdejuan@uic.es

Other instructors

Dr. Alberto GALLART - agallart@uic.es
Dra. Carmen QUIÑOA - cquinoa@uic.es

Office hours

• At the end of the lesson and by e-mail

The aging of the population in developed countries has led to major changes in health policies adopted by different Governments. The increase in life expectancy generates an increase in demand for health care, that means an improvement of the quality of life during this life stage. Due to the physical and psychosocial changes that occur at this stage of life, nurses who understand the complexity of health needs of this population group are needed.

• Not required

1. This programme aims to develop the skills needed so that nurses can assume safely the care of the elderly, situations of dependency, and of the families / caregivers, either at both institutional and home healthcare level.

• 12. B - Know and observe the ethical code of conduct of Spanish nursing, understanding the ethical implications of health in a changing global context.
• 13. G - Know the principles of health-care funding and use resources appropriately.
• 1. G - Ability to provide technical and professional health care appropriate to the health needs of the people they treat, with full technical and scientific autonomy, according to current and available scientific knowledge and to the quality standards and safety requirements set forth in the applicable legal standards and code of ethics.
• 2. E - Plan and provide nursing care for individuals or groups, taking health outcomes into account and their impact, through guidelines for clinical practice and care, which describe the four processes by which a health problem is diagnosed or treated.
• 7. B - Understand people without prejudice, considering their physical, psychological and social aspects, as autonomous and independent individuals, ensuring respect for their opinions, beliefs and values, ensuring their right to privacy through confidentiality and professional secrecy.
• 9. E - Promote healthy lifestyles, self-care, as well as the maintenance of therapeutic and preventive behaviors.

• Show understanding toward the aging process as a global, complex and contextualized process.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the scientific basis underlying the aging process.
• Identify relevant socio-demographic indicators of the elderly population.
• Make use of the different instruments for a comprehensive geriatric assessment (VGI in Spanish)
• Develop Care Plans using the information obtained from the elderly person and her or his social and family environment and from the scientific evidence on care for the elderly.
• Practice care taking into account the ethical and legal aspects that arise in clinical practice.
• Respect the physical distance documented in the literature of the course in order not to invade the space of the patient.
• Establish an adult-to-adult relationship.
• Listen carefully to the interventions of the patient and / or family.
• Show sympathy and respect for the opinions of the patient and / or family.
• Organize and synthesize information on the patient
• Specify fundamental ethical principles to be considered in the care of the elderly: autonomy, non - maleficence, beneficence and justice.
• Show discreet management of patient information.
• Identify two situations where these principles have been applied in real life, and two situations where they have been omitted.
• Recognize ethical-legal dilemmas associated to geriatric patient care.
• Design a plan of care that reflects the values, wishes and decisions of the geriatric patient and / or her or his family when it is not competent to make decisions.
• Discuss professional commitment in making ethical decisions regarding the care of the geriatric patient, and the continuous updating of your knowledge.
• Use several sources of information to complement learning on the subject, in addition to those recommended by the teacher.
• Assess the health status of the elderly person / geriatric patient based on the ability for self - care, personal autonomy and healthier adaptation.
• Make reference to the comprehensive geriatric assessment.
• Use Barthel scale, Mini-Mental State Examination of Lobo and Folstein (MNSE), Katz index, index Norton and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA).
• Interpret the results of the previous instruments.
• Prepare three nursing diagnoses.
• Establish a care plan that promotes high patient autonomy and is consistent with the assessment made.
• Describe and argue the life crises of aging.
• Recognize 3 normal signs of aging and 3 signs that indicate changes in health status, suffering and / or dependency.
• Relate the concepts of autonomy, dependency and selfcare.
• Quote three factors involved in populations aging.
• Describe four geriatric syndromes.
• Identify five characteristics of the aging process.
• Analyze the healthcare levels in Cataluña
• Argue professional contribution to the interdisciplinary team in Geriatrics
• When creating a care plan, use the contributions from the latest research on geriatric care.
• Plan three activities to promote health and autonomy of the geriatric patient and family
• Suggest three activities to prevent, delay or reduce dependency on the geriatric patient and family.

Unit 1: The Aging Process. Introductory aspects

Unit 2. Policy health and social care for the elderly population

Unit 3. Changes inherent to the process of individual aging

Unit 4. The comprehensive geriatric assessment

Unit 5. The elderly with health problems. The main geriatric syndromes

Unit 6. Immigrant caregivers

Unit 7. Ethical considerations in elderly care

Unit 8. Palliative care for the elderly

Unit 9. Old age and death

• Cooperative Learning
• Interview Completion
• Role-playing
• Discussion
• Videos
• Critical reading of articles
• Cases

Relative value of each stage of evaluation in the overall evaluation:

The subject will be evaluated during the semester by continuous evaluation systems with a percentage of 40% and a final exam worth 60%. This will be a multiple choice and/or a short questions exam. The continuous evaluation consists of:

• A presentation of a photo and a exercise based on the photography of a elderly person (5%)
• Non virtual independent work: an interview with an elderly person and an exercise about it (25%)
• Questionnaire in moodle platform 10%.

General evaluation criteria:

• It is mandatory to pass the final exam in order to take average of all the marks.
• Final exam 60%

Second assessment:

The subject will be evaluated with a final exam worth 60% of the final mark and the continuous evaluation will value of 40%. The 40% of the continuous evaluation can be retaken as follows:  

• Carry out the interview and the elderly photography exercise again with a value of 20%. In any case, the mark obtained will never be higher than a 5.
• The rest of the continuous assessment mark will not be able to be retaken (moodle questionnaire).

The final mark of the course is obtained through taking the average of all the marks in the subject. First Class Honors will not be awarded in the first resit.

Second and third resits (and extraordinary cases)

The subject will be evaluated with the same system as in the examination and the first resit and marks from previous years will not have any value in the subsequent resits.

• BAYÉS, R. (2006). Afrontando la vida, esperando la muerte. Madrid: Alianza.
• FRANKL, V.E. (1946). El hombre en busca de sentido (18ª ed.). Barcelona: Herder, 1996.
• M.M.BURKE; M.B. WALSH. Enfermería gerontológica. Mc.GRAW HILL. Interamericana. 1998
• KASCHAK NEWMAN, D.; JACOVAC SMITH, D. Planes de cuidados en Geriatría. Barcelona: Doyma, 1994
• GRUPO DE TRABAJO DE ATENCIÓN AL MAYOR. Atención a las personas mayores. Barcelona: semFYC, 2005
• Llibre Blanc de les Activitats preventives per a la gent gran. Departament de Sanitat i Seguritat Social. Generalitat de Catalunya. 1999
• ROACH, SALLY. Introductory Gerontological Nursing. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 2001.
• ROGERS-SEIDL, FRANCES F. Planes de Cuidados en Enfermería Geriátrica. Barcelona: Masson, 1995.
• STAAB, A.S. and HODGES, L.C. Enfermería Gerontológica. Mexico D.F. : McGraw-Hill, 1996
• Revista GEROKOMOS. Revista de la Sociedad Española de Enfermería Geriátrica y Gerontológica. Barcelona: SPA, S.L.
• FERNANDEZ- BALLESTEROS, R. Mitos y realidades sobre la vejez y la salud. Fundación La Caixa. Barcelona: SG ediciones SA: 1992
• KANE, ROSALIE.; and KANE , ROBERT. Evaluación de las necesidades de los ancianos. Fundación La Caixa. Barcelona: SG ediciones SA: 1993
• LAFOREST, J. Introducción a la Gerontología. Barcelona: Herder, 1991
• MARTÍNEZ, Mª B., MONLEÓN, M., CARRETERO, Y., GARCÍA-VAQUERO M.T. (2012). Enfermería en Cuidados Paliativos y al final de la vida. Barcelona: Elsevier.
• NEWMAN and SMITH. Planes de cuidados en Geriatría. Barcelona: Paradigma, 1994
• NULAND, S.B. (1993). How we die: reflections on life's final chapter. Traducción castellana: Cómo morimos: Reflexiones sobre el último capítulo de la vida.  Madrid: Alianza, 1995.
• PINILLOS, J.L. y col. Una aproximación pluridisciplinar al entorno de la vejez. Fundación La Caixa. Barcelona: SG ediciones SA: 1994

E: exam date | R: revision date | 1: first session | 2: second session:

• E1 29/05/2017 12:00h
• R1 14/06/2017 10:00h
• E2 21/06/2017 08:00h
• R2 05/07/2017 11:00h