Abstract
During the training process, nurse students acquire knowledge, skills and competencies to work with different groups of patients. Working with elderly people has its difficulties and specificities. The acquisition of practical skills by students for planning and documenting individual health care for the elderly people is a process in which teachers and mentors have a leading role.
 Objectives: To identify the factors which make it difficult for nurse students to work with elderly people.
 Methods: The study involved 52 3rd year nurse students – from the Faculty of Medicine of Trakia University in Bulgaria.
 A questionnaire was used, including open-ended and closed-ended questions, allowing more than one answer. The data was processed mathematically and graphically.
 Results: The main difficulties for students in working with the elderly people are as follows: the process of communication (92.16%), difficult perception of new information (80.64%) and memory impairment in the elderly patient (61.44%); The main difficulties related to the organization of activity - insufficient experience in working with geriatric patients (92.16%); insufficient time for communication with patients (94.08%); lack of comfort in the patient's home (57.60%); a "Diary for tracking and self-monitoring of the condition" of an elderly person - it is very useful for 90.24% of students so that they can monitor the condition of the elderly person; It was found that 65.28% of students do not want to work with elderly people, as 46.09% of them indicate the motive for this as mental strain.
 Conclusion: The teacher and the mentor are leading figures in preparing students to work with elderly people. The practical preparation for planning and documenting individual health care for elderly people is very important in the training process of nurse students.
Highlights
The increase in the elderly population in recent decades has become a challenge for the health systems of EU Member States
The main difficulties for students in working with the elderly people are as follows: the process of communication (92.16%), difficult perception of new information (80.64%) and memory impairment in the elderly patient (61.44%); The main difficulties related to the organization of activity - insufficient experience in working with geriatric patients (92.16%); insufficient time for communication with patients (94.08%); lack of comfort in the patient's home (57.60%); a "Diary for tracking and self-monitoring of the condition" of an elderly person - it is very useful for 90.24% of students so that they can monitor the condition of the elderly person; It was found that 65.28% of students do not want to work with elderly people, as 46.09% of them indicate the motive for this as mental strain
The teacher and the mentor are leading figures in preparing students to work with elderly people
Summary
Providing health care to elderly people requires an increase in financial resources, as well as providing trained medical professionals to work with them. It is necessary to create and implement an integrated model for providing affordable, continuous, sustainable quality health and social care for elderly people (Popova et al, 2017). Skills and competence to provide health care for people with different needs, including elderly ones.. Skills and competence to provide health care for people with different needs, including elderly ones.1 During their training, nurses have profiling disciplines where they study the specifics of working with elderly people. Nurses have profiling disciplines where they study the specifics of working with elderly people During their academic practice and undergraduate internship, students have the opportunity to apply practically the theoretical knowledge acquired during their training. The academic practice of students is managed by teachers and mentors with nursing specialties
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