Aged-care nursing, or gerontic nursing, is now recognised as a specialised area
of nursing. The word ‘gerontic’ is derived from the Greek word geron, meaning
‘old man’ or ‘old age’, and courses in gerontology are now widely available at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels in institutes of higher education
throughout the world. Such courses provide the theoretical basis for effective,
evidence-based care of the elderly. Care of the elderly is the underpinning tenet
of this book.
The sciences of medicine, nursing, nutrition, and environmental studies,
among others, have brought about a significant prolongation of life, especially
in the past hundred years. ‘Life expectancy, measured as the mean number of
years to death for a defined group . . . increased significantly over the twentieth
century’ (Gray et al. 2000, p. 1). Because people are living longer, the aged
population has expanded remarkably, and will continue to do so. Along with a
decrease in mortality (and an increase in the aged population), there has been a
significant increase in morbidity. This means that there is a greater number of frail and ill elderly people than ever before, and specialist aged-care nurses are
in high demand.