Challenges and Responses to Improving Geriatric Nursing Care Essay - 1

Challenges and Responses to Improving Geriatric Nursing Care - Essay Example The number of old-aged people seeking health care facilities is rising with no or minimal changes in the number of nurses specialized in the field. According to Hickman, University of Western Sydney and Newton (2007), most of the nurses attending to the old people have no special training. Therefore, apart from the shortage of nurses trained in dealing with the old, the already practicing nurses are offering substandard services to the old aged. This is because they lack professional competence in that area. Various reasons have contributed to reduced number of people training in gerontological studies, (Vincent, 2012). For instance, education institutions are faced with the challenge of handling large numbers of students. This leads to difficult in the institution offering the required facilities to the learners, hence leading to inadequate education. As such, nurses graduating from such institutions are not fully prepared to handle the elderly. Additionally, students find it diffic ult to pursue education program on care giving to the old age due to complexity of research projects undertaken in the field.The number of old-aged people seeking health care facilities is rising. According to Hickman, University of Western Sydney and Newton (2007), most of the nurses attending to the old people have no special training. Therefore, apart from the shortage of nurses trained in dealing with the old, the already practicing nurses are offering substandard services to the old aged.