Short term Course on “Geriatric Healthcare & Research": Activity of ICMR-DHR Funded Geriatrics Project: 3rd Year

The course duration was two weeks starting from September 9th to September 21st 2019. A total of 22 participants from different States of India attended the course. The first day of the course commenced with an overview by the administrative officer of the project, Ms. Mitchelle S Lewis. Dr Judith A Noronha, Associate Dean and Co-Investigator of the project welcomed the gathering.

The Principal Investigator & Dean of the college Dr Anice George explained the expected outcomes from the project to the participants. The aim of conducting the course was to enhance the capacity of Nurse Educators on various aspects of Gerontological Nursing and Research.

With respect to Gerontological Nursing, topics covered were Assessment of elderly, Basic skills for Gerontological Nursing, Nursing management of older adults with common health problems, Psychosocial care of elderly, Ethical and legal issues related to care of elderly, Geriatric communication, guidance & counselling, Elderly abuse, and Rehabilitation of elderly. Geriatric Health Research sessions focused on different aspects of research methodology and statistical analysis with special emphasis on Geriatric Research.

Resource persons for the course were the senior faculty of Manipal College of Nursing Manipal, and from the department of Data Science, PSPH, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal.

The participants were grouped in pairs for planning a research work in geriatric field under the mentorship of senior faculty in the project team. The outcome of this group work were presentations of research proposals on the topic of their choice in the field of geriatrics.

On the last day of the course, participants visited Ozanam old age home, where they interacted with the inmates of the old age home and conducted exercises and laughter therapy sessions. Participants in their feedback, appreciated the course and expressed their wish to continue with the research activities contributing to the care of elderly in India.