Caring from bedtime to breakfast: focus of free course for shiftworkers (Podcast)
Dementia Training Australia has launched a free online training course for aged care staff who care for people with dementia overnight.
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Unpacking that question is a good starting point for shiftworkers to ensure for a person-centred approach to caring for people with dementia at night, says Belinda Goodenough, knowledge translation manager at Dementia Training Australia (DTA).
“Sleep matters to everybody,” Goodenough said, and added while dementia adds a perspective to sleep that people who work at night must be mindful of, there are still individual differences and person centred-care will try to identify, unpack and work with, rather than against, the night owls.
She said that it’s also important to take into account what’s best for the people who are caring for the person with dementia.