Caregiving and dementia/Projects/Support for a service prepared to evaluate the adoption of post graduate education and nursing competencies for registered nurses engaged in the care of people with dementia

Overview
Th NSW/ACT DTSC developed a competency framework for Registered Nurses (RNs) caring for people with dementia and a post-graduate certificate in dementia nursing to prepare them for this work. This project provided support to an aged care organisation willing to evaluate the application of the competency framework and the provision of the education to their RNs.

The project provided the aged care organisation with material that will assist them in the recruitment, career development and performance monitoring of the RNs caring for people with dementia. In addition assistance was provided in the form of NSW/ACT DTSC scholarships and mentoring support to enable up to 10 RNs to enroll for and complete the post-graduate certificate in dementia care nursing. The organisation was also be assisted to apply for scholarships through other agencies to bring the total number of RNs enrolling in the course up to 20.

The overall aim of this project was to demonstrate the usefulness of the competency framework and the post-graduate certificate in dementia nursing developed by the NSW/ACT DTSC. Specifically this project:
 * 1) Provided scholarships to 10 RNs.
 * 2) Supported the nurses in their studies by providing mentorship in recognition of the difficulties often experienced by people returning to study after a prolonged absence.
 * 3) Evaluated the new course on Dementia Care in Nursing through student participation.
 * 4) Provided the organisation with a competency framework that assisted them to
 * 5) Recruit appropriately qualified RNs
 * 6) Develop a career path for RNs in the care of people with dementia
 * 7) Monitor the performance of RNs caring for people with dementia
 * 8) Evaluated the usefulness of the competency framework.

This project is the third in a set of inter-related projects (1st: Dementia nursing competencies, 2nd: Graduate certificate in dementia care nursing) and was needed to act as a test bed for the materials produced in the first two projects. This project demonstrated the benefits for large organisations of providing their senior registered nursing staff with systematic career development via tertiary education while assisting with the development and evaluation of the new competency framework and nursing specific, post-graduate certificate.

More information

 * 1) TBA