5th November 2024
Consultant Geriatrician, Dr Elaine Nelson has introduced an Ageing Simulation Experience for Health Professionals in Southern Trust to help staff gain a better understanding of the challenges patients face.
Staff have the opportunity to try different ageing simulation suits and equipment as part of workshops available to staff working with older people that mimic the experience of an age-related disability or illness. Wearing the equipment, staff complete a variety of daily life activities as part of the workshop trying to overcome the challenges an older person may face.
Dr Nelson explained how she introduced the training into the Trust and the importance of the workshop experience. She said: “We started using it with the medical students but really it’s important that everybody within the trust who is coming into contact with an older person would avail of this training.
“What we’re doing here is aging simulation or frailty simulation. What we want to do is try and mimic as best we can what it would potentially feel like to be an older person with certain co-morbidities like joint restrictions or mobility issues and sensory impairments like visual impairment and hearing impairment.
“It’s not enough just to wear the equipment and wear the aging suits, it’s important that that you go through the workshop and take part in activities of daily living like eating and drinking, household tasks, communication and managing medications.”
Janice Hepburn, an Acute Care at Home Team nurse, felt she gained a better understanding of her patients after completing the training. She said: “I found it difficult, and it made me feel very lonely, I felt isolated. I felt in a world of my own and I felt quite sad thinking how our patients are living with this daily. It’s given me a better understanding of what it’s like for our patients. Without a doubt I would recommend this, it’s brilliant.”
