Aged Care Education and Training

In stock

SKU
SC-191
Learn how to deliver exceptional evidence-based care in residential settings.

Enhance your skills and confidence with this online, modular Aged Care Education and Training (ACET) course. Tailored for nursing, allied health and personal care workers, the course covers essential topics such as dementia care, palliative care, oral health, communication, incontinence management, diabetes care, medication safety, reablement, restrictive practices, sexuality and intimacy, and pre-placement preparation (Health Professionals).

Choose which modules you need to enhance your skills, and access them anytime, anywhere, learning at your own pace. Each module features engaging content, activities, case studies, and quizzes to enrich your learning experience.

Originally funded by the Victorian State Government, this course addresses critical knowledge and skill gaps, equipping you to provide high-quality, evidence-based care and make a meaningful difference in the lives of older people in residential aged care.

$0.00

Key facts

Course category
Nursing and Midwifery, Nursing, Patient and Aged Care
Options
Option 1 Online (On demand)
Duration
12 months access from registration date
Group Bookings
Enquire now
Prerequisite/s
There are no prerequisites for this short course

Why this course?

If you are working in the residential aged care sector,  this course has been designed to help you hone your existing skills and develop new knowledge that will help you improve the lives of older people living in residential aged care by building your confidence and ability to deliver evidence-based care. 

This course includes a module, Introduction to Aged Care (pre-placement), specifically designed for undergraduate health students (nursing, allied health) who are going to do a clinical placement in residential aged care. It dispels any myths and gives you context prior to your placement.

Commissioned by the Victorian State government to address key knowledge and skills gaps, particularly in dementia and end of life care in response to the Royal Commission in to Aged Care Quality and Safety (2020), this program was developed by La Trobe's Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care (ACEBAC) to develop capability of staff working across Victoria’s 780 aged care services.  It is now available to everyone.  

Why study a short course at La Trobe

Industry experience while you study

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Rising demand

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Powerful Collaborations

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Course content

 Topics essential for aged care professionals covered include the following modules:

Dementia care 

 

  • Understanding dementia
  • How dementia affects the brain
  • The impact on people in their daily life
  • Recognising pain in people living with dementia
  • Understand changed behaviours
  • Depression and dementia
  • Dementia and sleep 
3 hours

A palliative response to care 

 

  • Introduction to palliative care
  • Symptom recognition and response in a palliative approach
  • Recognition and management of an actively dying resident
  • Loss, grief and bereavement
  • Self-care and resilience
2.5 hours

Oral health and wellbeing 

 

  • Perspectives on oral care
  • Quality standards and standardised care
  • Health oral structures
  • Oral screening and care planning
  • Oral health and general wellbeing
  • Specific personalised oral care for the resident
  • Preventative options
  • Oral sensitivity and comfort 
4 hours

Communication in Aged Care

  • Adapting your style for effective communication

  • Behaviour as a response to unmet needs

  • Communication challenges and how to overcome them

30 mins

Introduction to Diabetes

  • Introduction – why it is important

  • Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

  • Problems caused by high sugar levels (hypoglycaemia)
  • Managing diabetes in aged care settings

30 mins

Hypoglycaemia | The Facts

  • What is it, and what is the cause?

  • Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycaemia (IAH) and associated problems

  • The effect of hypoglycaemia on the older person and how to treat it

30 mins

Communication in Practice

  • The need for timely, open, transparent and frequent communication with all stakeholders

  • Charter of Aged Care Rights

  • Duty of candour requirements

  • Key message of the open disclosure framework

30 mins

Incontinence Management

  • Understanding incontinence

  • Basics of bladder and bowel

  • How incontinence affects people

  • Interventions to facilitate continence

30 mins

Medication Safety

  • Involving residents in decisions about their medication

  • Recording, review, support, monitoring and evaluation of medication use

  • The impact of ageing on medication safety

  • Monitoring high-risk medications 

30 mins

Reablement

  • Linking reablement with strategies of health and wellbeing and quality of life
  • Differentiation between reablement and a wellness approach to care

30 mins

Restrictive Practices

  • What are restrictive practices that are in use?

  • The legal and ethical issues around their use

  • Alternative strategies to restrictive practices

30 mins

Sexuality and Intimacy

  • Sexuality, sexual health and intimacy

  • Myths and facts around later life sexuality

  • Barriers to positive sexual and intimate relationships in residential aged care

  • Strategies to support resident sexuality

30 mins

Introduction to Aged Care (pre-placement) 

  • Approach your placement with confidence and build your knowledge

  • The complex nature of ageing

  • Develop an awareness of ageism

30 mins

 

You’ll learn:

  • To develop effective communication skills and adapt your style to meet resident and carer needs.
  • About the importance of open, honest, and frequent communication with carers and families.
  • A foundational understanding of dementia, palliative care, oral health, diabetes, continence care, medication safety, reablement, restrictive practices, and sexuality in aged care.
  • Strategies to manage dementia-related pain, depression, behaviours, and sleep.
  • Recognise the importance of oral health and implement appropriate oral hygiene strategies.
  • To understand the principles of reablement and how they contribute to improving quality of life for older people.

Your study experience

This course is fully online and self-paced. You can choose which modules to undertake and when. They are dynamic and interactive, with a blend of text information, activities, case studies, stop and think moments, and knowledge quizzes. You will have access to the course for 12 months from the registration date.

Each module will take approximately 30 minutes to complete - and expected time commitment for the whole course is 15 hours. 

You will be able to download a certificate of participation for completed modules. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

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Find out more about further education at La Trobe  View all FAQ

I would like information about a short course. Who can assist me?  

Email: LaTrobeProfessional@latrobe.edu.au 

Phone: 1300 135 045

I have paid the fee for a short course. When will I be able to access it?  

On completion of your registration, you'll be provided with an account on our Learning Management System (LMS) and the course material will be made available at the advertised date, or as outlined on your registration confirmation email.  For our on-demand courses, access will be immediate.

What payment options are there?

  • You may arrange to pay by BPAY or EFT
  • For group bookings, we encourage purchase orders.  Contact us for a quote, and upon receipt of your purchase order we can make the course available to you.
  • Unfortunately, we are not able to arrange instalment payments.

Contact us on LaTrobeProfessional@latrobe.edu.au for assistance. 

Can I arrange payment with a Purchase Order?

Yes, we accept Purchase Orders. Please email to LaTrobeProfessional@latrobe.edu.au and our La Trobe Professional team will provide you with payment details and access to your course. 

I am getting an error when I try to log into my LMS account. Can you help? 

  • The first thing to check is your order confirmation email - it will contain your Learning Management System (LMS) account and password.  Note that this account may not be the same as your staff, student or previous short course participant account. 
  • The second thing to check is that you're logging on as a short course participant and not as a student - choose 'Other Users' - select Short Course as your institution and use your account and password as provided.

If you need any assistance, contact us on LaTrobeProfessional@latrobe.edu.au. 

I want to enrol multiple staff in a short course. How do I go about this? 

Contact LaTrobeProfessional@latrobe.edu.au so that we can discuss options with you.  

What certification will I receive?

The type of certification depends on the assessment involved in the course. For example:

  • Microcredentials:  You will receive a digital credential that confirms the skills you’ve acquired, any assessments you’ve completed and potential pathways for credit or advanced standing towards a degree. 
  • Other assessed short courses:  This may include bridging programs or courses that prepare you for external certification from a professional body.  You might receive a certificate of achievement or a digital badge (a digital version of a certificate of achievement).
  • Non-assessed courses:  If a course doesn’t involve formal assessment, you’ll receive a certificate of attendance.
  • Single-subject enrolment: If you enrol in a single subject, you will receive an official transcript for that subject.

Please note that short courses or microcredentials are not formal qualifications under the Australian Qualifications Framework but may be eligible for consideration as advanced standing (credit) towards a degree.

What is a microcredential? 

Microcredentials are short courses that are assessed, carry academic credit, and to deliver specific skills or knowledge.  While they can be taken as standalone courses, many are designed to be combined or ‘stacked’ with other microcredentials to form the equivalent of a subject within a degree program.  Upon successful completion, you’ll earn a digital credential that outlines the skills and credit obtained, and any opportunities for stacking.

For La Trobe microcredentials, any advanced standing or stacking pathways are clearly expressed on the course page.   

What is advanced standing?

Advanced standing refers to credit for prior study or formal learning that can be credited towards a qualification, thereby reducing the number of subjects required to complete a course. For short courses or microcredentials (if these have been completed through recognised institutions or platforms and are deemed equivalent to La Trobe University subjects), credit may be granted either for specific La Trobe subjects or as unspecified credit towards elective requirements of a La Trobe course.

For La Trobe microcredentials, any advanced standing or stacking pathways are clearly expressed on the course page.   Upon successful completion of the course, you’ll receive a digital credential, which may be used when applying for credit for the relevant degree at La Trobe.

For more details, visit the University’s advanced standing web page.