Ageing
Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and
start bragging about it!
Elderly Care Vocational
Training and Rehabilitation System
The ECV project, Sponsored by the EU
Commission under the Leonardo Da Vinci programme, aims is to promote academically and socially acceptable skills for
elderly care taking workers... (Click to learn
more...)
IN THIS ISSUE:
“ECV Teacher” –
The Elderly Care Vocation Software
The ECV project is progressing steadily within reasonable deviations
from the planned activity schedule. The major outcome … (Click to learn more...)
ECV Social Relations Guide
The long awaited Elderly Care
Vocations Social Relations Guide has reached a stable status. The data
concerning the situation in the ecv project participating
countries has been assembled in a structured book. (Click to learn more...)
Medicine Against Ageing
During
the past decade significant discoveries have been made concerning molecular mechanisms
that regulate the process of ageing … (Click to learn more...)
Sources of knowledge in elderly care
When people find
out that I teach Elderly Care they sometimes ask me: ‘Elderly Care: do you need
specific training for that? … (Click to learn
more...)
The ECV project
activity progress monitor shows reasonable deviations… (Click to learn more...)
Elderly
Care Vocational Training and Rehabilitation System
The ECV project, Sponsored by the EU
Commission under the Leonardo Da Vinci programme, aims is to promote academically and socially acceptable skills for
elderly care taking workers through self training electronic methods and means.
The ECV project will produce e-learning software
and a related textbook material addressing the training needs of motivated
individuals in Elderly Care Vocations. It will also develop a Competence
Accreditation methodology and a Social Relations Guide. The products
will be promoted through the ECV Network aiming to meet the training
requirements and to merge the employment desires of certified
elderly-care-workers with the needs of the elderly-care-taking providers.
The ECV User Network is set to promote training and
rehabilitation in the Elderly Care Vocation. Access is restricted to Members
who register through www.ecvleonardo.com The
Registration is open to applicants who freely:
- Declare that they share common interest in the Elderly Care Vocation
and will use the network data solely for the promotion of the spirit and
the products of the ECV project about which they are fully informed.
- Accept to interchange their name and address with the other members.
- Accept the possibility that their data may be illegally infringed on
the web.
The Partners
The project partners are:
1.
TRISYS LTD (CY) – Promoter:
Management consulting, training, research, commercial implementation of IT
systems, project management.
www.tringos.com - tringos@logos.cy.net
– Tel: +357 22377776 – Fax +357 22376930
2.
AMALGAMA INFORMATION MANAGEMENT LTD (CY)
- Information Technology organisation specialising in multimedia and web
handling
www.amalgamacy.info - orestis@amalgamacy.info
– Tel: +357 99484776 – Fax: +357 22376930
3.
AYIA MARINA STROVOLOS ELDERLY HOME
(CY) - Elderly Home operating in market terms with supplementary support from
community welfare voluntarism.
www.stegiagiamarina.netfirms.com - demosthenis@cybee.com.cy
Tel: +357 22 423917 – Fax: +357 22 421629
4.
INEK PEO (CY) - Labour Research Centre
closely associated with the major Trade Union Federation of Cyprus (PEO).
www.inek.org.cy - inek@cytanet.com.cy
– Tel: +357 22877673 – Fax: +357 22877672
5.
CCWU - UNIE KATOLICKYCH
ZEN (CZ) - Women voluntary organization
providing services that practically help people-in-need.
ukz@volny.cz – Tel: +420 220181329 – Fax: +420 220510232
6.
KWIC - KONING WILLEM I COLLEGE (NL) -
Regional community college and education centre for primary, secondary, higher
and adult education.
www.kw1c.nl - info@kw1c.nl – Tel: +31 73 624 9
624 – Fax: +31 73 624 9 629
7.
CECE - CONFEDERATION ESPANOLA DE
CENTROS DE ENSENANZA - (ES) - Confederation
representing Education Centres Associations nationwide in
www.cece.es - marian@cece.es – Tel: +34 91
7257909 – Fax: +34 91 7261117
8.
PCCI -
Professional Association with wide Membership network
+ Euro Info Cente
www.forthnet.gr/eicgr161 - evepeic@ath.forthnet.gr - Tel: +30 210 4170529 Fax: +30210 4174601
9.
KEK SBIE (GR) - Accredited VET
Centre providing specialised training in Medical and Health Care and assisting
in job placement.
www.sbie.edu.gr - giord@sbie.edu.gr
– Tel: +30210 3312992 – Tel: +30210 3312994
10. SVTC - SOCIALIZACIJOS IR DARBINIO MOKYMO CENTRAS (LT)
-Social Economy organisation providing VET and social induction to youth, women
and other disadvantaged social groups.
www.sidmc.org - sdm@centras.lt
- Tel: +370 2330355 – Fax: +370 52349594
11. IECM - VILNIAUS
UNIVERSITETO EKSPERIMENTINES IR KLINIKINES MEDICINOS INSTITUTAS (LT)
- Gerontology Centre of Vilnius University with a long record in ageing
research as well as elderly care providing and VET training.
www.ekmi.vu.lt - vidmantas.alekna@ekmi.vu.lt
– Tel: +370 52777745 – Fax: +370 52777745
“ECV
Teacher” – The Elderly Care Vocation Software
The ecv project is progressing steadily within reasonable
deviations from the planned activity schedule. The major outcome is showing up
its face. The “ECV Teacher”, the software that drives the knowledge for
e-learning of the Elderly Care Vocations founds its way to existence through a
‘pilot’ version.
This Pilot version
was designed to include all the learning modules of the programme and in
particular two lessons from each chapter. In this respect the selected English
text was tuned to “vocalisation” mode and given for translation into the
national languages of the participants. The translation is aided by relevant
software which generates a text database ready to be used by the “ECV Teacher”.
The corresponding
video clips were shot and assembled with voice passages which again were
pre-recited in the languages of the project.
The main features
of the software are:
·
Simplicity
and versatility of screen handling
·
Compaction
of learning functionality
·
Relativity
of database responsiveness
Once the Pilot will
be successfully received by the partners the databases addressing the whole
learning elements (text, voice, and video) of the system will be developed
following the already tested path of action.
The Pilot is
expected to be demonstrated in Vught –
The long awaited
Elderly Care Vocations Social Relations Guide has reached a stable status. The
data concerning the situation in the ecv project
participating countries has been assembled in a structured book.
The Guide unfolds the message in four chapters, namely:
a.
Introduction: Giving information about the
aspirations of the society over Ageing
b.
Employment: Dealing with conditions, standards and
skills
c.
Social: Describing the Social infrastructure and
the dialogue and the family care standards in each country
d.
Training and apprentice: Covering the formal, non
formal and informal life-long-learning of the vocation
The contents of the ECV Social Relations Guide will be reviewed in the
next meeting at Vught. It is expected that the final
product will be loaded on the project website www.ecvleonardo.com by October 2006
During the past decade significant discoveries have
been made concerning molecular mechanisms that regulate the process of ageing. Accumulated
knowledge thus far allows for fascinating optimistic thoughts that humans soon
will be able to intervene and regulate these mechanisms of ageing. Humans will
be able therefore to lengthen their life span by delaying ageing.
A basic piece of knowledge at hand is the fact that
close relationships exist between the mechanisms conducive to ageing and those
leading to the development of metabolism related diseases like Diabetes
Mellitus 2 and being overweight.
The understanding of these close correlations will
possibly facilitate the creation of medicines suitable not only for the therapy
of Diabetes and being overweight but also of medicines that will be able to
delay ageing and to lengthen the life span.
Ageing is one of the major causes of capital diseases
like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases and the alienation of
cells of the nervous system ( Alzheimer, Dementia)
During the past decade several genes have been
discovered to simultaneously play a part in the mechanism of ageing and in the
metabolic control of the human body energy.
Diabetes
according to the above evidence can be considered to be a form of accelerated
ageing.
Resistance to insulin found in diabetes 2 and the
accumulation of intestinal fat are primary causes of metabolism related
diseases. At the same time these two factors prepare organisms for premature
ageing.
The
genes involved in the mechanisms of ageing, diabetes and being overweight,
produce proteins through which they exert their action.
These proteins can become the targets of new
medicines for combating diabetes and being overweight allowing simultaneous
action against ageing, setting higher new limits for longevity
Many
researchers have focused their research to the study of the relation of insulin
resistance to ageing. The intake by humans of large
quantities of food rich in calories in conjunction with the absence of
exercise, force their pancreas to produce insulin in higher levels than normal.
The overproduction of insulin is necessary to control
high levels of glucose, which is absorbed and circulates in the blood as a
result of rich nutrition. Progressively this leads to the accumulation of
intestinal fat of particular negative influence.
Fat is not simply an energy storehouse. It produces
substances and contributes in inducing durability against insulin.
Most of the genes that have been found to be involved
both in the lengthening of the life span and in metabolism related diseases
were well preserved throughout the evolution of the organisms. They are well
preserved not only in human beings but also in lower organisms.
Due to this reality, research aimed towards
recognition and intervention in the genes involved is facilitated (SIR2/SIRT,
INDY, AMP kinase insulin/insulin-like growth factor).
The products of these genes i.e. proteins, are suitable for the production of
targeted medicines.
We can
see therefore that scientific thought about ageing is changing. The development of medicines against ageing related diseases leads the way
for the production of medicines that can be used against ageing.
It is
evident that the issue is not if humans can win the battle against ageing but
when!
---------------------------------
Bibliography:
Ageing and metabolism: drug discovery opportunities, Nature
Reviews Drugs Discovery - 2005; 1 July.
Sources of knowledge in elderly care
By Annegien de Hoop MScN
When people find out
that I teach Elderly Care they sometimes ask me: ‘Elderly Care: do you need
specific training for that?’ This reflects the opinion some people have that
caring for elderly is easy, that it needs no specific knowledge or skills.
Anyone who cares for elderly, as a family member, friend or health care
professional, knows better then that…
Add life to
the years.
What makes
elderly care so special? It is well known that the elderly population steadily
increases. Elderly people also become older; there is a growing amount of
persons beyond the age of 85. Specific health problems that can occur are self
care deficit, incontinence, loneliness and psycho-geriatric disease, which
increase the risk of long term care assistance. Anyone who cares for elderly,
informal carer (family, friend, and neighbour) as well as healthcare
professional must be aware to meet a complex array of psychosocial, spiritual,
environmental and physical needs. Prevention, treatment and support are
critical to the ability of elderly persons to be optimally independent.
Supporting autonomy is an important value in elderly care, which maintains or
adds quality to life of elderly. The main goal in elderly care must therefore
be NOT to add years to life, but to add life to the years.
Accessible sources
More and more
people, informal carers as well as health care professionals, are confronted
with the specific needs of elderly. Especially family (spouse!), friends and
neighbours in community and care workers in long tem care facilities have a growing
demand for accessible sources to learn about elderly care. A lot of books
however are not aimed at everyday practical situations or are too simple and
concise for the complex problems people meet. The Elderly Care Vocations (ECV)
Project aims to produce easy accessible CD ROMS and books to meet this need.
The psychosocial, spiritual, environmental and physical needs of elderly ask
for a multidimensional approach, so the ECV developers need to draw their
knowledge from multidimensional sources.
The sources of
knowledge, derived from Mensinks' Integrated Mastermodel (1996) give useful guidelines. Mensink compiled this Mastermodel
from research articles by renowned nursing scientists.
The five
sources of knowledge
The five sources of knowledge mentioned in Mensinks’ Master model are:
- Empirical knowledge
- Ethical knowledge
- Personal knowledge
- Esthetical knowledge
- Social political knowledge
What do these sources include and how do the
developers of the ECV project use them?
Empirical knowledge
is the knowledge of facts, concepts, theories and models obtained by research.
This knowledge includes anatomy, physiological changes within aging,
pharmacology, psychiatry etcetera. Empirical knowledge is the kind of knowledge
we all know about from (professional) books and magazines. In health care
research based interventions are preferred to perform Evidence Based Practice,
in the medical field as well as in caring and nursing.
Empirical
knowledge helps us understand specific behaviour caused by health problems like
dementia. For the ECV project empirical knowledge from text books and reliable
internet sites is used.
Ethical knowledge
describes the knowledge of moral justice seen from the caring perspective. Ethical
knowledge helps to think about whether elderly care is really good care e.g. is
it good care when you have to restrain a confused elderly when there is no one
around to calm or comfort him. Decisions about life and death are also
concerned. The ECV developers are aware of ethical aspects and use the Code of
Ethics for Nurses (International Council of Nurses 2000) as a basic principle.
Personal knowledge
is knowledge gained by personal, lived through experiences. Reflection and
interaction with other persons put this knowledge forward. When developing the
educational experiences the ECV developers have often drawn from this source.
Personal experience is a precious source of knowledge. Much knowledge in
elderly care is gained by experienced care workers who share their personal
knowledge by publishing books and articles.
Esthetical
knowledge is known as the ‘ART of care giving’ an integration of methods and
techniques from psychosocial, psychomotor, cognitive and affective fields of
knowledge and skills. This explicit context-bound knowledge which expands by
experience is especially brought about by role modelling (Benner 1984). This
implies that much can be learned from an experienced carer, e.g. to see that an
elderly is really comfortable in bed. Pictures and videos can also show
this ART of caring, that is why the ECV educational materials also include CD
ROMS.
Social political
knowledge is the knowledge that contains the social political context in which
caring for elderly takes place and the position of the carer in this. It
concerns environmental elements that can differ from one country to another.
The ECV project also develops a Social Relations Guide which e.g. describes the
status of elderly in society, the amount of professional cares and informal
care and health insurance. This knowledge is essential in policy- and decision
making concerning elderly care, not only for politicians but also for the
(informal) carers themselves. Policy concerning Elderly Care is also one of the
challenges the countries of European Union stands for.
Conclusion
Often we are
aware of the empirical, mostly rational source of knowledge. For every
(informal) carer in elderly care it is a challenge and inspiration to taking
all five sources of knowledge as a starting point. It can also be a useful
template for educational developments. Working from all of these sources we can
do justice to the multidimensional aspects of the life of the elderly we care
for and by this, really help them to add life to their years.
Sources:
Benner P. (1984) : From novice to expert. Excellence
and power in clinical nursing, by.
Addison-Wesley
California
Mensink F. (1996) : Transfer van kennis en vaardigheden. Onderwijs en Gezondheidszorg 20 (8) 156-157
International
Council of Nurses (2000) : The ICN Code of Ethics
for Nurses. ICN
The ECV project
activity progress monitor shows reasonable deviations from the original
plan. Despite some delays in the process
it is at the moment assessed that the project outcomes will be delivered on
time.
The next major
event is the partners review meeting at 2 – 5 July 2006 in Vught
– The Netherlands which will focus on the discussion and evaluation of :
- The “ECV Teacher” training software
- The ECV Social Relations Guide
- The Quality Assurance of the project
outcomes
- The setting up principles of the ECV
Network and its related functionality
- The planning of the Pilot Test of the
system