Geriatric nursing is an indispensable component of any health care sector anywhere in the world. Apparently, Australia is still lagging behind in the trend. There is a plethora of reasons why geriatric nursing would be of immense benefit to the aged care sector in Australia. There is dire need for collaboration among all health care experts in all disciplines in order to deliver a superior care to geriatric patients. Each professional should recognise the expertise of the other in providing health care in a collaborative way, to the aged. Terminally ill patients would benefit immensely from this kind of collaborative approach.
B. Martin, J. U. (Coniglio 1996) Nurse practitioners are specially trained to cater for a special group of the population. This includes the aged. Nurse practitioners are equipped with the needed experience and clinical skills to take complex decisions about patients. It would be invaluable to allow them manage geriatric patients. The nurse practitioners would bring an increased level of efficiency into the Australian health industry as they would complement the activity of doctors whose numbers are becoming more inadequate. Studies have demonstrated and confirmed these above notions about nurse practitioners.
They have been shown to be very effective and efficient. Nurse practitioners need to be fully equipped for this task. They need to be given access to the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) (Myth Busters 2006) In a study to evaluate the impact of geriatric nurse practitioners employed by nursing hones on the quality of patient care it was found out that was a reduction in the number of hospital admissions from these homes compared to nursing houses that are managed by general nurses. this further points to the fact that geriatric nurse practitioners have the needed skills to cope with the realities of the situation. (J. Garrard et al, 1990)