Your Best Guide to Becoming an Aged Care Nurse

A career in aged care nursing is incredibly rewarding and offers a diverse range of invaluable experiences while working within the healthcare system.

As life expectancy continues to lengthen, the demand for qualified health professionals for ageing support grows, creating the perfect time to look into becoming a registered aged care nurse.

The aged care sector of the healthcare industry is a rapidly growing one with:

Furthermore, aged care nursing as a career has longevity! Of current registered nurses, over 60% sit between 25 – 54 years old, while another 19.6% sit between 55 – 64 years old.

This diversity in age means that becoming a registered nurse within an aged care setting is a viable possibility whether you’re older and wish to up-skill as a health professional or change careers completely!

The aged care sector of the health industry is large and is made up of multiple critical roles to ensure the best care towards older people. A registered aged care nurse is one of the most important roles.

What do aged care nurses do?

An aged care nurse’s responsibilities can include:

• Administering medications
• Close medical patient observation
• Managing patients’ diet and exercise
• Managing chronic disease or pain
• Palliative care management (complicated pain management procedures)

Registered nurses must also have an array of patient-handling skills, including:

What do assistant nurses do?

Another essential role of aged care is assistant nurses. These people work closely with registered nurses and assist them with their duties alongside their own responsibilities, such as:

• Assisting in maintaining patients’ or clients’ hygiene
• Administering medicine (prescription or over the counter)
• Food preparation
• Social companionship
• Overall monitoring of the clients’ or patients’ well-being

Assistant aged care nurses or support workers are qualified to assist health professionals within numerous establishments, including nursing homes and hospitals. To become an assistant aged care nurse, you can complete a Certificate III or Certificate IV in Aged Care Support.

To become a registered aged care nurse, you must complete either an Associate‘s or Bachelor of Nursing.

Bachelor’s Degree

A Bachelor’s degree is the most common study option to become a registered nurse. It includes:

• Three years of full-time (usually) on-campus study
• Professional work placement during studies
• Registration with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) – when the course is completed.

Advanced Diploma

An advanced diploma of nursing is usually two years of full-time study, including professional work placement.

When you graduate, however, it’s uncommon you’ll become a registered nurse straight away. Many become Enrolled Nurses (EN’s), which allows for nursing employment; however, often EN’s are considered less knowledgeable when compared to their registered colleagues.

With industry experience, EN’s can request to become officially registered with AHPRA at a later date.

If you’re looking to extend yourself within your current healthcare role, or you’re looking to start a completely new career, becoming a registered aged care nurse could be for you.

This could be an excellent next step if you’ve already completed an aged care course, are working in the industry, and would like to advance your career.

If you’re patient, calm and wanting to make a difference in the lives of the older members of our society, look into becoming a registered nurse now.