Raising Awareness: Aging Population Impact on Singapore Nursing

This essay analyzes the increasing aging population in Singapore and its profound implications for the nursing and healthcare sectors. It emphasizes the importance of raising awareness about the demographic shift, driven by factors like improved healthcare and longer life expectancies, and its impact on healthcare services. The essay discusses the influence of the aging population on nursing knowledge, highlighting the need for specialized geriatric care, home-based services, and chronic disease management strategies. It explores challenges such as increased demand for healthcare resources, workforce shortages, and the need for nurses to adapt to the specific needs of the elderly. Furthermore, the essay suggests solutions such as investment in training, development of integrated care models, and proactive policies to support healthy aging. The importance of early intervention, awareness of aging mechanisms, and effective communication skills are also highlighted. The essay concludes by advocating for proactive measures by the government and healthcare providers to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the aging population to ensure quality care and a sustainable healthcare system in Singapore.

Running head: AGING POPULATION 1
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Aging Population
Students Name
Institution Affiliation

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Aging population
Globally, the aging population in the world has increased attributed to different health-
related factors. In Singapore, the increase in the aging population is attributed to improved
healthcare services and socio-care needs. Demographic structures and transition, including
decreasing birth and mortality rates leading to longer life expectancy, enabling the majority of
the population to be over 65 years, has piled pressure on the aging population to be engaged in
almost every activity (Peters, 2010). Such changes in the society are created by political,
economic, and social issues which may hamper the sustainability welfare of the state by raising
the retirement age. The increased aging population in Singapore has significant implications for
nursing and healthcare, which necessitates the need to raise awareness. This essay will discuss
the importance of raising awareness, the influence of the aging population on nursing
knowledge, and also how to overcome any challenges emanating from the increasing aging
population.
According to the world health organization (WHO), the world population is anticipated
to be around 50 billion by the year 2050 (Esser & Ward, 2013). This attributed to the rapid
growth of the people across continents. Singapore is among the countries with the highest life
expectancies and lowest fertility rates in the world, with the older workforce making
employment rate to surge over the past decade. In the last decade, the population of older people
has been higher than the young people with an increased rate of 5% of residents (65 years and
above) in 10 years (Hamerman, D., 2016). It is vital to create awareness about the aging
population to reduce inequality differences in health status in the country (Kharicha et al., 2014).
An aging population requires more care compared to the general younger population; hence, it is

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essential to raise awareness on the increase of the aging population to put in place policies that
help promote their health and wellbeing.
In some parts of the country, people do not have direct access to health services,
especially the poor aged people, and therefore through awareness creation, the government will
be able to develop policies needed to focus on expanding the provision of healthcare to particular
groups that are excluded or marginalized (Pallin et al.,2013). Being fair in health services
provision is beneficial to a country. Enlightening community awareness has been established by
programs combining public education campaigns and training to ensure that every individual
gets access to healthcare services.
As the population grows old, so does the implications in both the nursing and healthcare
sector. In the recent study, it found that older adults have specific health needs like maximum
attention, which is probable and can anticipate when someone is above 60 years (Willison &
Andrews, 2014). Old age people need home-based care as their physical body may be vulnerable
to handle tasks associated with the patient movements. The elderly require help in, diet, and meal
planning and preparation, simple physical therapy training, doing blood-pressure tests, managing
their injections, and many more, which require person-centered care (Willison & Andrews,
2014). With an increase in human lifespan, chronic illness prevalence also increases; about 70%
of older adults have at least two chronic diseases. The nurses need to put in place measures that
will promote the health and wellbeing of this aging population (Willison & Andrews, 2014). An
awareness of potential behavior changes, which involves, medical attention, regular checkups,
and strategies for dealing with the emerging chronic disorder, is of importance to the nurses in
promoting the health of the aging population.

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The aging population in the nursing and health care sector will provide insight into the
future outlook of the care and services that are likely to be offered. This will provide insights on
changes that need to be met within the healthcare sector to meet the health needs of the aging
population (Rodriguez-Mañas, Rodríguez-Artalejo & Sinclair, 2017). Advancement in age is
linked to susceptibility to different conditions; hence, the practitioners need to make changes to
ensure services regarding prevalent conditions affected the aging populations are availed (Boult
et al., 2015). Nurses can manage complex natures of senior patients with relevant training to
handle integrated strategies in coordination and communication among patients, and therefore
the skills gained become of great value to the entire health sector.
According to the Institute of Medicine's report, on-the-job education of nurses is an
excellent step for a country to leverage the health care challenges experienced currently to make
changes that will be of importance to the future decision making regarding the aged population
(Pin & Spini, 2016). There is a need to advance the demographic shift that puts much pressure on
the aged population to educate the young on the possible areas of concentration for the future
betterment (Poore et al., 2017). There is a need to study the problems associated with the aging
population to provides the necessary education, training, and skills development to the nurses on
the most anticipated health-related issues. Consequently, developing the measures needed to
contain the issues when there is an eventual influx of health problems in the aged population
(Boult et al., 2015).
There is a great insight into leadership and critical thinking skills that are emphasized
when dealing with the aging population. Such qualities pass across the health care industry, and
they will potentially serve as the primary care provider for senior patients with multiple chronic
issues that require minimal physician intervention. The nurses will be required to take a major

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role in patient care and treatment (Boult et al., 2015). Effective communication skills will be
necessary to ensure the correct administration of drugs and gaining the trust of the aged
population, which will promote better services to the elderly (Boult et al., 2015). Nurses will
need to explain treatment plans, respond to questions, and report the concerns of both patients
and their caregivers.
As the population of Singapore citizens increases, especially the aged, there is a pressure
on the available nursing homes and centers in the country to be expanded and more resources
like bed capacity and human labor to be raised to accommodate the change adequately (Shorey et
al., 2019). This trend has a direct influence on both the aging and younger generation (under 65
years). The positive impact as a result of the shift is increased employment opportunities to the
nursing and health care sector. As the population ages putting up new facilities and living homes
becomes necessary (Shorey et al., 2019). On the other hand, the shift in the aging population
makes them vulnerable to unfavorable conditions of work, and this may force the majority of
them to ignore their professional duties. In such a case, the demand for professional laborers in
the nursing field will increase, and there will be an imbalance ratio of nurse to patient, which
will, therefore, raise the demand for higher wages and benefits, which will push further the
higher costs of nursing care and elderly services, leaving the majority in tough situations (Shorey
et al., 2019).
To overcome this challenge, the government needs to invest more to support healthy
aging, which is highly dependent on the physical, mental, and social status of a person (De Wit
& Schuurmans, 2017). Healthcare providers should focus on building and maintain capacity by
reducing significant rise factors, disease detection, and promoting healthy lifestyles. The
healthcare providers should focus their services on treating underlying causes and maintain

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cognitive and physical strength (De Wit & Schuurmans, 2017). Rapid access to healthcare
facilities should also be a priority in the sector to avail of services when necessary. Also, it is
important to integrate the clinical processes of aging into the geriatric practice, which will
promote early therapeutic interventions to promote health outcomes and raise awareness of
geriatric practitioners on the primary aging mechanisms.
The present growth in the aging population, calls for the urgent need for more medical
practitioners in the nursing field, more importantly, those who understand and have the
knowledge to deal with elderly patients (Liu et al., 2016). This will lead to a strain on the
available medical resources in the country; this anticipated challenge can only be overcome
through training the medical practitioners right from college level to the registered nurses who
will work in the different departments to meet the changing demands of the healthcare sector.
With the continued low numbers of medical practitioners, provisions of health care
services to the required standard may take time, and the cost of Singapore medical services may
remain high. This is because a significant number of individuals in the aging population are
likely to experience challenges due to the increased needs and demands of the patients (De Wit
& Schuurmans, 2017). Even with the pension and health insurance, meeting doctor's
appointments and drug expenses as prescribed may be challenging to the majority, and their lives
jeopardized due to the failure of meeting medical services as required (Isham et al., 2017). As
demand for medical professionals’ services increases, an opportunity is created for the younger
medical practitioners to study, train, and venture into the medical field, eventually, this will meet
the services needed by the aging population. Therefore, this will mean better conditions and
services to the growing aging population of Singapore through the integration of basic aging
mechanisms.

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Raising awareness about the aging population and its effects on the nursing and health
care sector in the future in Singapore is very necessary to define the changes that can be carried
out to meet the population's demands. From the findings, it is clear that the aging population in
Singapore is growing significantly, which in several ways affects the nursing field and hence the
need to raise awareness about the anticipation of the future possible implications. There is a need
to study and analyze the needs of the aging population to offer insights on what needs to be done
to meet their healthcare needs. More emphasis should be placed on preserving functional ability
and improving the quality of life instead of a clinical outcome-based approach. The government
should invest in training of the young medical practitioners, thereby reducing demand for future
medical practitioners to meet the needs of the aging group. Therefore, it is prudent for the
government and the general public to be aware of this anticipated shift and act promptly.

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