<p>There are many reasons why the elderly may be in need of care, for example, if an elderly person suffers a medical illness, such as a stroke or a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, he/she may need assistance and care (Boehlke, 2001).</p><p>Another major problem for elderly people is the prevalence of co-morbidity (several chronic diseases in one person) which makes treatment and quality of care and life more difficult. In many instances care for the frail elderly, especially in long-term care institutions, is provided under minimal supervision by caregivers who lay people. This can lead to poor-quality care or neglect of the frail elderly. Clarke (2008) stated that the role of the caregiver involves the application to the principles of caring at any level of care. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive, contextual and phenomenology design was used to perform this study.</p><p>The purpose of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate a supportive educational programme for caregivers of the elderly in old-age homes in Windhoek.</p><p>The study was conducted in three phases. Firstly, a situational analysis was carried out to explore and describe the experiences and needs of the caregivers and the elderly. The situation analysis revealed themes in terms of interpersonal relationships that could be positive or negative regarding the elderly, with the sub-themes like communication, support and caring for elderly people. These themes and sub-themes include the following: Interpersonal relationships were viewed as an important aspect of the caring process. Lack of regular in-service training sessions for caregivers, with a subtheme of a lack of adequate knowledge of procedures. Lack of human resources, equipment and policies.</p><p>In the second phase, a conceptual framework was derived from the results of phase 1, using the activities prescribed by Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach (1968). In the third phase, an educational programme was developed from of the findings of the previous phase. The Vicon project (2010) explains a programme as a plan of action for achieving something. The educational programme was implemented and evaluated and adjusted according to recommendations made. The feedback session with participants would indicate that their responses to the programme were positive, and they mentioned that the programme was indeed needed. The intention and hope are that the educational programme will help caregivers for the elderly to be competent and provide quality care.</p>
In many instances, care for the elderly, especially in long-term care institutions, is provided under minimal supervision by caregivers who are lay people. This can lead to poor quality care or neglect of the elderly. The research question was: "How competent are lay caregivers for the elderly in old age homes, who often lack the opportunity for training to improve their knowledge and skills, in delivering care to the elderly? The aims of the study were to explore and describe the experiences of both the caregivers and the elderly in respect of caring for the elderly in old age homes. The objectives of the study were to explore and describe the experiences of the caregivers and the elderly with respect to caring for the elderly and in respect of nursing care they received. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive, contextual and phenomenology design was used to perform this study. In the situational analysis, the experiences and needs of the caregivers were described. Themes in terms of interpersonal relationships that could be positive or negative regarding the elderly were identified. These included lack of regular in-service training sessions for caregivers. Likewise, sub-themes like communication, support and caring for elderly people were revealed. Inadequate knowledge of caregivers in caring procedures, a shortage of staff, equipment and absence of policies which should support and guide the work of caregivers impacts negatively on the care of the elderly. From the experiences of the elderly and caregivers, the competencies under scrutiny emerged and were measured qualitatively by the perceptions of the elderly, in respect of the caring they were exposed to.
Although there are many 'health days' to promote important public health issues, many of which are supported by different institutions. Global public health campaigns offer great potential to raise awareness and understanding about health issues. There are many world days observed throughout the year related to specific health issues or conditions. The School of Public Health conducted yearly a health day in the beginning of March or April of each year. According to Clinicians handbook (1998) explains check -up as a clinical preventive services usually delivered by primary health care clinicians to persons with no signs and symptoms of illness as part of a routine health care process. Central to the periodic health examination.
The School of Nursing and Public Health sends every year the final year nursing degree students to rural placements. Students are send to the different clinics and hospitals in regions namely; -Khomas, Otjozondjupa, Kharas, Erongo, Omaheke, Kavango East and West, Otjikoto and Zambezi region. The students were placed from the 2nd June to 4th June 2014. Rural placement is organized because of complaints received from the public sector. It was uttered that newly qualified professional nurses after having obtained their degrees, lack the skills to operate independently. Aim: The aim of rural placement for fourth year nursing students is to gain knowledge and to develop the necessary skills to practice independently under the supervision of a qualified and experience registered nurse. Method: No actual research was conducted. The answers were collected from the fourth year nursing students' reports. Results: The findings from the report of the fourth year nursing students were positive and negative. The findings were divided in themes and sub themes by using Tech's method. The positive responses were: Management of administrative aspects. Platform to work independently; Students learn to apply their critical thinking. Practice how to manage a health facility: Learn more on integrated management of neonatal and childhood diseases Management of hypertension, asthma and other emergency cases. Students Experience the difference between rural and urban. Distances were very far; roads are difficult to travel; There is not always a doctor and you had to make own decisions for the patient. Prepare students to become responsible and accountable professional nurses. Work under supervision of the registered nurse. Negative responses were: Staff shortage; no delegation at some places; poor communication; language barriers; far distances. Conclusion: Although there were some hiccups the students were very grateful for the exposure to the rural placement. Students have learnt a lot of activities they were previously not fully confident of.
The overall purpose of this article is to describe how the World Health Day was celebrated at the University of Namibia in 2017. University of Namibia as one of the higher institutions of learning in Namibia is celebrating the world health day yearly, mainly to promote health and prevent ill health, through partaking in the health campaigns. In 2017, the University of Namibia had conducted a mini survey and the main aims of the survey were twofold, firstly, to determine whether the students at the University of Namibia are visiting their general practitioners regularly for medical examination particular on tests like blood pressure, glucose and eye's test; and secondly to provide information about the importance of general medical check up to the students of the University of Namibia. Purposeful convenience method was used to select the sample and structural questionnaires were employed to gather data. The results revealed that the majority 34% of the students at the University of Namibia never went for medical examination to detect disease early. Recommendations were made based on the findings is that everyone to take initiative and visit any health facility (public or private) for medical examinations as soon as possible and not only to wait to be tested on world health day, since it might be too late.
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