This afternoon I’m presenting at Ausmed’s Cairns Nurses’s Conference. The title of the presentation is “Mental Health and Cognitive Changes in the Older Adult”.

The only real point of this blog post is to leave a copy of the powerpoint presentation online, so that those attending the conference can revisit the slides PRN. Here it is:

And here’s the spiel from the Ausmed website
www.ausmed.com.au/course/cairns-nurses-conference

Mental Health and Cognitive Changes in the Older Adult

As we get older, the likelihood of undergoing alterations to brain function is high. This may include normal neurodegenerative changes as well as abnormal deteriorations. Separating normal from dysfunctional degeneration when screening and assessing an older adult is essential for quality nursing care planning. This session will look at:

• What are normal age-related changes to the brain and consequent behavioural signs?
• How are these changes different to the onset of mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, psychosis or bipolar disorder?
• Age appropriate assessment tools for effective mental health assessment
• Benefits of brief psychosocial interventions
• What practical behavioural strategies may improve outcomes for a person with a mental health disorder and cognitive changes?

About the presenter:

Paul McNamara has extensive experience providing clinical and educative mental health support in general hospital and community clinical settings. He holds hospital-based, undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications, is Credentialed by the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (ACMHN), and has been a Fellow of the ACMHN since 2007. Paul is a very active participant in health care social media, and is enthusiastic about nurses embracing “digital citizenship” – more info via his website http://meta4RN.com

End

That’s it. Short and sweet.

I hope this is of some use/interest to those who are attending the conference, and (maybe) some people who are not able to get along.

As always, feedback is welcome in the comments section below.

Paul McNamara, 15 December 2016

Short URL: https://meta4RN.com/Ausmed16