Integrating the concepts of Elderly Rehabilitation in the Baccalaureate curriculum at the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi, Pakistan

Vol.2  No.3

Year: 2012

Issue: Aug-Oct

Title : Integrating the concepts of Elderly Rehabilitation in the Baccalaureate curriculum at the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi, Pakistan 

Author Name : Noureen N Karamali, Gulnar Ali 

Synopsis :

Globally Geriatric population is growing rapidly as per the advancement in the care facilities and increased life expectancy. According to WHO (1999), nearly 60% of the 580 million elderly people globally are living in the developing countries and it is estimated that by 2020, this will raise upto 70% of the total elderly population. Pakistan, currently the sixth most populous country in the world, has an estimated geriatric population of around 7 million. Changing trends in the lifestyle and the influence of the nuclear family system in the society also contributes to the need of geriatric services and care. With the overall strains on familial networks in the face of poverty, the vulnerability of many elderly people in Pakistan increased in recent years, particularly when their children are themselves too poor and over-burdened to care for them (Itrat, Taqai, Qazi, & Qidwai, 2007). Despite, Geriatric health care is a most neglected area and receives less attention both internationally and in Pakistan. Currently, in the public sector there are not specialized or separate health care facilities for the elderly or any specialized geriatric nursing homes, other than few privately run senior citizen homes where the elderly are charged nominal fees per month or they are provided welfare if affordability is an issue for the family (Baig, Hasan, & Iliyas, 2000, Saleem, Khalid, Qidwai, 2009 & Sabzwari & Azhar, 2010). Caring for the elderly involves all aspects of care such as physical, social, psychological and spiritual and should not be restricted to the medical and technical aspects of care. Therefore, it is essential that the health care personnel should look around all these care dimensions and takes the responsibility for the overall care needs of the elderly and give it a prime importance. In order to accomplish this task, the health care personnel need to be prepared for such advanced care practices. In general, both the current medical and nursing curricula in Pakistan does not addresses the geriatric as a specialty in its program, except very few where these concepts are taught at a preliminary level. The Aga Khan University in Pakistan has started a separate outpatient clinical geriatric program in the year 2008 and planning to include geriatric care into its undergraduate and graduate curriculum and continue to strengthen it across both medical and nursing schools (Sabzwari & Azhar, 2010).