Do you have any plan to build a career in the Australian aged care sector? The decision is excellent as there have been growing opportunities in this industry over the last few years. According to a report published a few years back, about 1.2 million Australians had received aged care support in the year 2017-18. As the number of older people is relatively increasing, demand for aged care workers also rises subsequently. An aged care coursefrom a reputed institution can be the starting point for making a successful career. In this article, we discuss the duties and responsibilities of a certified aged care worker in detail.
What are the responsibilities in different jobs in the aged care sector?
You can choose any individual support course which may be offered online or via on-campus teaching. Certificate 3 in aged care course can open a lot of job opportunities for you.
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- Aged care workers or home support worker
Aged persons usually develop daily tasks and activities and thus badly need professional assistance. Aged care workers help older people in these activities and ensure that their quality of life is maintained. As an aged care worker, you may choose to work in any aged care facility or private residences.
Whether a client will be high care or low-care will depend on the type of assistance one will provide. A low care client will help in essential home assistance like cleaning, gardening, and arranging for transport to attend medical appointments or community events. If you work in a home, the services will be pretty similar, but you must assure them that you are always at their service to help. Personal care includes helping in taking showers, dressing and manual handing.
For a higher care client, preparing meals and drinks and feeding is part of the responsibilities.
The carer should use special cutlery and feeding tubes. More responsibilities may include medication management, dressing of wounds, assisting in light physiotherapy exercises or mobility instruments. Carers should also have some knowledge about respite services. Monitoring the behaviour of their clients is another responsibility, as to notice any unusual changes to reduce health-related risks. But above all, carers should always try to be the perfect companion.
Regarding timing, aged care workers should be highly flexible as they have to work usually on various shifts or the weekends.
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- A community support worker or lifestyle worker
There are a variety of job roles that include clinical or personal care. At the same time, community support and lifestyle support are equally important to boost the mental condition of aged Australians. Generally, community support workers and lifestyle works take a person-centred approach that enhances their independence and choice of clients. You can work in either private homes or residential aged care centres, or community centres. The role is more or less similar to that of an aged care worker, where you will assist in daily activities and helping them to attend community gatherings or events. Sometimes, support worker may have to organize recreational or social activities for older people.
In some cases, community support workers may need to provide necessary assistance with personal care or basic needs. To summarize, a lifestyle worker helps an older person experience life in a better sense even at a fragile age by making him or her involved in various programs and activities. From the points, you can clearly understand how creative your profession can be as you will support such a person who has reached the last phase of life. Just as aged care workers keep monitoring the behavioural characteristics, you have to assess the clients to check which programs or activities are benefitting them.
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- Assistant in nursing (AIN)
An assistant in nursing or AIN gives substantial assistance to registered nurses and enrolled nurses. AINs are also termed as nursing support workers. Though the AINs do not possess the same qualifications as enrolled or registered nurses, they do have essential contributions in clinical care. Their general responsibilities include assisting patients with mobility equipment, helping in taking food and drinks, improving their physical conditions through rehabilitation procedure and arranging domestic aged care.
Like registered or enrolled nurses, AINs hold a higher standard of care and policy than other aged care workers. Observing the patients’ behavioural changes and documenting reports are also their duties. In recent times, there has been a rise in demand for AINs.
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- Enrolled nurse (EN)
An enrolled nurse or EN assists a Registered Nurse or RN. He or she works according to directions given by the RN for some specific roles. Enrolled nurses’ responsibilities are general health care duties, including observing resident’s vital records, changes in behaviour, documenting reports, physical examination, measuring body temperatures, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, checking pulse and respiration. ENs also have to provide necessary help in activities like bathing, showering, dressing, urinating etc. ENs also get involved in administering general first aid assistance in case of emergency.
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- Registered nurse (RN)
Registered nurses or RNs indeed play essential roles in clinical cares. They are the top-ranked nurses on whom healthcare units depend heavily to take care of the patients and administrative support at the same time. You should always keep in mind while going for a nursing assistant job because you must be physically powerful because you may need to lift or move a patient in some situations.
The responsibilities of a nursing assistant vary, depending on the specific area he/she works in. But, in general, the duties are bathing, dressing and feeding patients, monitoring vital signs shown by the patients, administering medications, monitoring patients’ health condition, and scheduling essential appointments with necessary healthcare workers like speech therapists or physiotherapists.
In the end
Aged care sector jobs are not only very rewarding or satisfactory, but they also assure job security and a decent salary. If you are not interested in doing jobs immediately after completing your certificate 3 course, you can enrol in Certificate IV Aging Support. Aged Care Course Perth can help you with necessary information and queries and help you build a successful career.
