Policy and Leadership Demographic Trend

Question: Discuss about the Policy and Leadershipfor Demographic Trend. Answer: The demographic trend in Australia predicts that there will be an increase in the population of the people aged 65 years and above. This has been attributed to the reduced fertility over a long period and increasing life expectancy. This growth of the aging population is expected to have many effects in Australia amongst them health (Australian Demographic Statistics, 2010). This put pressure on the health sector of the country to consider improving the health services for the older people. As people age, they are faced with much gerontological health related complications (Creditor, 1993). Better models of care for the elderly need, therefore, to be developed. Acute Care of Elderly (ACE)Model This study is analyzing the Acute Care of the Elderly (ACE) model. This is a consumer-centered model.The ACE model provides an interdisciplinary approach to ensure that older people are provided with a well managed, patient-friendly environment with specialist care (NSW 2007). Older people are faced with many health problems, and long hospitalization may deteriorate their health condition. According to Fox (2013), there is the likelihood that older people when hospitalized may have a reduced functionality by the time they get discharged from hospital compared to the time they were admitted. This calls for specialized care for the old people so as to avoid functional decline. ACE is a model that helps in preventing the old patient from reducing their functionality as a result of hospitalization. According to Fox (2013), ACE model is made up of five components; It focuses on the patient to ensure that their physical, cognitive and psychosocial functionality does not reduce. Careful medication which is facilitated by an interdisciplinary team of medical practitioners to prevent faulty treatments that may reduce patients functioning. It ensures that patient functioning is restored through timely rehabilitation. Aims at ensuring the patient is discharged early enough to prevent adverse effects of hospitalization. Provides the patient with an environment modified to improve the patient functioning and special care from the medical specialists. ACE is designed to allow the older people at risk to receive specialist care and get discharged from the hospital within a short time (Statewide Older People Clinical Network 2013). The ACE model ensures that older adults who have special needs are recognized so as to be provided with special care that will help them recover quickly. ACE model is meant to provide care for people affected by delirium and acute dementia most of whom are old people. The ACE unit provides a safe environment for treatment, and the geriatric patient diagnosis is done within a day of admission and a treatment plan developed, and referral made where necessary. According to Flood (2013), ACE is cheaper compared to other models, and it provides better care than other related models. This is an economic goal that the government and the hospitals would like to achieve where high-quality care is provided at a lower cost. With the increasing number of old people in Australia, strategies that will improve health care for the elderly while minimizing costs need to be established. While ACE is designed under similar principles with Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit (GEM), it provides intensive care to the patient. However, for rehabilitation and restoration, the patient is transferred to GEM unit or any other unit that provides those services. The ACE model involves interdisciplinary specialists providing care for the patients and helps improve patient outcome and results to decreased cases of patient readmission. What differentiates ACE model From other medical practices ACE mainly focuses on providing specialized care to identify and address health issues affecting older people in particular. In some instances some patients cannot communicate their problems or needs clearly, ACE involves an interdisciplinary team of specialists who can take care of The majority of the elderly patients admitted in hospitals suffer from acute delirium. ACE model is designed to identify such patients and treat them in a special ACE puts into consideration the effect that hospitalization may have on elderly patients and provides unique care to the patient to prevent a decline in their functioning. The ACE model does not only seek to address primary admission diagnosis but also seeks to examine some factors and risk factors facing geriatric patients. The ACE unit considers the medications for geriatric patients to prevent complications that may result from inappropriate medication. This achieved through the use of Beers list which is used by health practitioners internationally. In the ACE unit, the interdisciplinary team of specialists consults with pharmacists to ensure that the appropriate medication is prescribed to the patient (Ballard 2012) Integrative Leadership in healthcare In integrative healthcare, leadership is an approach which builds on evidence-based therapies to cure and restore health. Integrative leadership is patient centered and ensures that the patient is involved in the treatment process. It focuses on creating a culture which values the wellbeing of the whole healthcare system and the society and not only for the patients and healthcare providers (Knutson 2017). This approach of leadership is important in practicing healthcare in the current world with diverse societies, cultures, knowledge and environments. Integrated leadership can be used by the leaders to unify the different categories of people. The main aim of integrative leadership is to bring a state of order for the common good of all the people. Integrative leadership focuses on bringing change at all levels starting from the individual level to national and globally. It seeks to build strong relationships between the various sectors in solving public problems facing people. It begins with the individual getting conscious with his inner being and transmits it to his outer being. When self-conscious is shared to others, it creates collective awareness to all of us. In the health care sector, integrated leadership is highly valued as the relationships and the environment created for the patients contributes greatly to their recovery process. When it comes to leadership there must be the leaders and followers since everyone does not possess innate leadership abilities. To be a leader one should possess certain qualities to attract followers. In integrative leadership followers are looking for leaders with a personality that can influence a transformation. Thus, this calls for self-awareness to (or intending to) develop that charming character which can be envied. This style of leadership calls for self-transformation first. According to Knutson (2017), in the modern world, followers are attracted more to leaders with whom there is mutual relationship founded on respect. They want a leader who holds a vision that will transform the whole society and achieve outstanding results. In fact, when it comes to integrated leadership, the focus is shifted from leaders to leadership. This indicates that in this style of leadership, greater focus is not on the individual leaders but on the relationships that they build with their sub jects. This creates many avenues by which an individual can become a leader. For instance, one may become a leader in his career and attract many followers. According to Scharmer (2009), the leaders have a blind spot which the followers do not understand despite knowing all other attributes that he possesses. It is only the leader who knows and understands this blind spot through self-consciousness. Scharmer further states that a modern leader leads with a vision of the future. An integrated leader catalyzes change through the positive influence that creates an avenue for others to succeed. Integrated leadership does not hinder the development of new ideas since it is accommodative and it is built on trust. Leaders should realize when and for what purpose an action needs to be taken. They should know when to sit and watch others lead and when they should be leading since it should be unifying (Knutson 2017). According to McChrystal (2015), integrated leaders need to be empathetic in nature to understand the complexity of the organization; it is this attribute that will help them understand the challenges that an organization faces. Integrative healthcare is focused on ensuring that good relationships are built and maintained by the medical institutions and the society as well as between the patients and caregivers Conclusion ACE model in the modern heath care sector in Australia is focused on providing elderly patients who might be suffering from acute health problem to access improved health services at a lower price. The model ensures that the patient wellbeing is given priority to save the elderly from health complications that arise from hospitalization. This model projects the application of integrated leadership in the healthcare sector in Australia. By involving a team of specialist from different fields, it ensures consultations are made and ensures the patients get quality health care. When integrated leadership is applied in the health care sector, it creates a better working condition for health workers. It also helps build a good relationship between the health workers and the management and also with the patients. Integrated leadership ensures that patients always receive the best services. References Ballard, K (2012,) ACE unit:How does an ACE unit differ from a recent Medical unit. Available From:https://centerforaginghsv.org/ace-unit.html Flood, K (2013), Analyzing the Effect of ACE Units for Older Patients. Available from: https://www.physiciansweekly.com/acute-care-for-older-patients/ Fox, M (2013), Adapting the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) model to your hospital. School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Volume 34, (4), Pages332334. Government of South Australia (2009), Statewide Service Strategy Division. HealthService Framework for Older People 2009-2016 Government of South Australia Department of Planning and Local Government. (2010), Population Projections for South Australia and Statistical Divisions 200636. Integral Leadership Review (2016), Feature Article: Theoretical Foundations of Integrative Leadership: Available from https://integralleadershipreview.com/5000-feature-article-theoretical-foundations-of-integrative-leadership/ Knutson, L (2017), Integrative Leadership: An Embodied Practice. Integrative Health Solutions Malone, M (2014), Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Tracker and e-Geriatrician: Methods to Disseminate ACE Concepts to Hospitals with No Geriatricians on Staff.HSS Public Access McChrystal, S (2015), Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. New York, NY: Penguin Publishing Group. NSW Department of Health (2007), Clinical Services Redesign Program: Acute Care of the Elderly (ACE). Australian Resource centre. Scharmer, CO (2009), Theory U: Learning from the future as it emerges. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Statewide Older People Clinical Network (2013), Level 6 Area Geriatric Service: Acute Care of the Elderly Unit. Government of South Australia