Course Description
Geriatric First Aid Training: Awareness is a knowledge-level course covering how medical and trauma emergencies present differently in older adults, and what the person on scene should do in the first few minutes. It is aimed at people who are around older adults regularly but are not clinicians: family caregivers, residential care and day-centre staff, community and faith group volunteers, and security and facilities staff working in residential settings.
The course explains why age-related changes to the heart, lungs, bones, skin and senses change the way an emergency looks, why the classic warning signs are often muted or absent in an older patient, and how to avoid the common assumptions that delay care.
This is the awareness tier. It is classroom and discussion based, with no hands-on skills assessment. Participants who need to perform and be assessed on physical skills should take Geriatric First Aid Training: Practical.
Upon successful completion, you will be able to:
- Recognize how ageing changes the presentation of common medical and trauma emergencies
- Identify the warning signs of stroke, heart attack, sepsis and low blood sugar in an older adult
- Describe the risk factors that make falls the leading cause of injury in this age group
- Recognize delirium, and distinguish an acute change in mental state from a person’s baseline
- Take a useful history where the patient has hearing, sight, memory or speech impairment
- Understand how multiple medications and blood thinners affect bleeding, bruising and fall injuries
- Decide when to call for emergency medical assistance, and what information to give
- Apply the principles of consent, dignity and safeguarding when assisting an older adult
Course Content
- Ageing and the body: what changes, and why it matters to a first aider
- Atypical presentation: the silent heart attack, the infection without fever, the painless abdomen
- Falls: causes, immediate response, and when not to move the patient
- Stroke recognition and time-critical response
- Chest pain, breathlessness and cardiac emergencies
- Diabetic emergencies and low blood sugar
- Confusion, delirium and dementia in the emergency setting
- Skin tears, bruising and bleeding in patients on blood thinners
- Hypothermia, heat illness and dehydration
- Medication awareness for first aiders
- Communication, consent and dignity
- Safeguarding, indicators of elder abuse, and reporting
- Handover to emergency services
Suggested Audience
- Family members and informal caregivers
- Residential care, nursing home and day-centre staff
- Home health aides and personal support workers
- Community, church and volunteer group members
- Security, reception and facilities staff in retirement and residential settings
- Employers with an ageing workforce
- Anyone who wants to recognize an emergency in an older adult and respond appropriately
Other Information
Course duration, delivery format, scheduled dates and certification details are confirmed at the time of booking. To register your interest, complete the form on the Register Now page and our training team will be in touch.
