NUR1299 Semester 2: Bupa Aged Care Merrimac Clinical Placement Report

This report examines Bupa Aged Care Merrimac, a care home on the Gold Coast, offering residential, respite, dementia, and palliative care. It details the facility's environment, including communal spaces and gardens, and its services, such as physiotherapy and diversional therapy. The report outlines the care models employed, including those for advanced illness management and the specialized dementia care provided, which incorporates treatments like Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. It further discusses chronic respiratory failure and palliative care, highlighting the role of the care team in providing dignified end-of-life services. The report concludes by emphasizing the student nurse's gained knowledge on handling these conditions and providing efficient end-of-life services, highlighting the student's ability to perform their role effectively when allocated duties by Assistant In Nursing (AIN), Personal Care Worker (PCW), and the Registered Nurse(RN) and, at the same time, enhance quality practice, meet the client’s rights through evidence-based – practice.

Running Head: Bupa Aged Care Merrimac 1
Bupa Aged Care Merrimac
Student’s Name
Institution
Date

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Bupa Aged Care Merrimac
Bupa Merrimac is a care home that is very charming, and located at the heart of the Gold coast.
It is near schools and shopping centers, surrounded by landscaped gardens that are very
beautiful. It is also surrounded by lots of entertainment to enable its clients enjoy BBQs and
offers Alfresco dining. It consists of communal spaces, attractive dining areas, a library, and
allows visits from a hairdresser to those who like pampering, ("Bupa Aged Care Merrimac,”).
Its residents are the aged in need of residential care, respite care, specialized care for dementia,
palliative care, and those in need of pop – in –service.
Care models in Bupa Advanced Illness Management programs, Programs of All-Inclusive Care
for the Elderly (PACE), Geriatric Resources for Assessment and Care of Elders(GRACE),
Improving Mood models such as Promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment for Late-Life
Depression (IMPACT) and other innovative models, (Malone, Capezuti, & Palmer, 2015). Its
staffs are both professional staff and other hospital workers who are at the required numbers.
They recruit nurses and carers who qualified enough with experience in offering care, passionate,
and who are fully registered to offer professional service. They help a client to stay healthy
through physiotherapy, diversional therapy, and podiatry.
Degenerative clinical conditions that one may encounter in this hospital include dementia and
other chronic conditions such as chronic cardiac failure, chronic respiratory failure,
osteoarthritis, and Parkinson’s disease, (Manderson & Smith-Morris, 2010).
Dementia
According to Dickerson & Atri, (2014), dementia is a chronic condition of the mental processes
that result from brain injury or brain diseases expressed through changed personality, impaired

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reasoning, and memory disorders. Bupa aged care provides dementia services, and the treatments
offered to reduce dementia symptoms include Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, Donepezil,
rivastigmine, and galantamine. Specialized dementia care is enabled by undertaking the team’s
specialized training for dementia, enacting the specific strategies that may lead to a quality life.
They offer ‘person first’ care to ensure that an individual is treated. The clients are taught how to
give themselves the priority, and their condition follows.
Therapeutic interventions for dementia
There is no specific treatment for dementia. Interventions for promoting independence can be
given to a client which include communication which a psychological intervention where
through good communication, a person attends to non-verbal cues of a patient, and uses words,
signs and sentence structure that a client can comprehend.
ADL skills training is another intervention where the patient’s skills are assessed, their
impairments and performance of tasks to enable the understanding of the psychological factors
they have, physical and neurological factors. Activities planning, use of assistive technology, and
use of adaptive aids are other interventions for dementia, (Dickerson & Atri, 2014).
Chronic respiratory failure
It is caused by injuries to the chest, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease, stroke, injuries of
the spinal cord, and complicated pneumonia. It is diagnosed by undertaking the patient’s medical
history, performing physical examination, doing pulse oximetry test and bronchoscopy. It is
treated by treating the respiratory failure underlying causes, eliminating the excessive carbon iv
oxide from the blood and increasing the blood’s Oxygen levels. Oxygen levels in the blood is
increased through oxygen therapy by increasing levels of oxygen through inhalation via a tube.

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Tracheostomy can be done during chronic respiratory failure which involves inserting a tube in a
patient’s windpipe, a tube which can be either permanent or temporary, (Ross-Russell & Wallis,
2013). Mechanical ventilation can be done when other treatments does not improve the chronic
respiratory failure. The doctor inserts a ventilator to help in blowing oxygen directly to a
person’s lungs and help n breathing. To help in breathing, other breathing aids such as
noninvasive ventilation may be used.
Palliative care
Palliative care is given to the people who are terminally ill and their families. These care services
are mostly provided in an organized service of health care such as care homes, (Chauhan &
Mosenthal, 2019). Bupa aged care Merrimac facility provides a comprehensive approach through
its care team to ensure that the person receives a dignified end of life. Through understanding
how emotional these situations are, the facility provides proactive care to its residents and their
families through meeting their physical needs, social needs, psychological, and spiritual needs.
As a student nurse, these cares have equipped me with knowledge on how to handle such
conditions and know how to provide end of life services efficiently. I will be able to effectively
perform my role when allocated duties of care by Assistant In Nursing (AIN), Personal Care
Worker (PCW), and the Registered Nurse(RN) and, at the same time, enhance quality practice,
meet the client’s rights through evidence-based – practice.

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References
Bupa Aged Care Merrimac. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.agedcareonline.com.au/residential-aged-care/facilities/bupa-aged-care-
merrimac
Chauhan, D., & Mosenthal, A. C. (2019). Palliative Care and Cardiovascular Surgery. Surgical
Palliative Care, 213-222. doi:10.1093/med/9780190858360.003.0018
Dickerson, B. C., & Atri, A. (2014). Dementia: Comprehensive Principles and Practices.
Oxford, IL: Oxford University Press (UK).
Malone, M. L., Capezuti, E. A., & Palmer, R. M. (2015). Geriatrics Models of Care: Bringing
'Best Practice' to an Aging America. Basingstoke, England: Springer.
Manderson, L., & Smith-Morris, C. (2010). Chronic Conditions, Fluid States: Chronicity and
the Anthropology of Illness. Chicago, IL: Rutgers University Press.
Ross-Russell, R. I., & Wallis, C. (2013). Acute and chronic respiratory failure. Paediatric
Respiratory Medicine, 538-544. doi:10.1183/9781849840392.002713