1. An Introduction to Senior Friendly Care
Top Tips for All Staff
Thank you for choosing to learn more about senior friendly care.

2. The 5 things we’ll discuss today
What’s in this for you
What is senior friendly care?
What older adults want
Some age-related changes to be mindful of
10 things you can do right now to make a difference
In the next 5 minutes, we would like to:
Let you know why we think this will be important to you
Provide you with a brief overview of the senior friendly care framework
Share with you what older adults told us about how they would like to be treated
Make you aware of some age related changes to be mindful of when providing care to older adults
And review the 10 things that you can do right now to make a difference in the way you provide care with older adults

3. What’s in this for you
Having a better understanding of the needs of older adults helps you deliver the quality of care that they are expecting.
This contributes to:
Better health outcomes for older adults
Increased satisfaction for older adults and their caregivers and families
Increased satisfaction for you
Understanding the needs of older adults helps you deliver the quality of care that they are expecting, rather than the kind of care you *think* they might want.
By providing senior friendly care you are contributing to better health outcomes for older adults, which is a win for everyone.
Providing senior friendly care is also a very satisfying experience. You can feel good knowing that you not only contributed to better health outcomes, but that you contributed to making older adults, their caregivers and their families feel really good about the kind of care you provided.

4. What is senior friendly care?
The sfCare Framework’s guiding principles and defining statements collectively describe what senior friendly care looks like.
Click here for the Framework, or go to
You might be wondering what senior friendly care is, and if you provide it already.
The Senior Friendly Care Framework describes what senior friendly care looks like. Some of the guiding principles and defining statements may sound like the kind of care that your organization provides to everyone…such as the guiding principle of “compassion and respect”, but in order to deliver compassionate and respectful care to older adults, it is important to consider their needs.
Your organization will use the Framework as a blueprint of what care should look like for older adults. Your organization may also use a self-assessment tool to gauge the organization’s strengths and opportunities around senior friendly care. You may see improvement plans or senior friendly initiatives in your organization, as part of your organization’s commitment to providing the very best care possible for older adults.

5. What older adults want…
“We want providers to be informed, positive, encouraging and engaged.”
“We don’t want [health care providers] to tell us that it’s all because of our age.”
“We want interaction with providers rather than pamphlets.”
“I want to feel as if you are talking to me as an individual with my specific needs not just as other older persons who are all alike.”
“Be respectful, inquiring, culturally sensitive and not condescending.”
“Be personal, get to know me and don’t be rushed; then it’s easier for me to share.”
“We want interaction with providers rather than pamphlets.”
The best way to find out what someone really wants, is to ask them. Here’s what older adults shared with us when we asked them about the kind of care they expected:
Older adults said they value interaction with their care providers, and would choose an interaction over a pamphlet.
They want us to understand that they are unique individuals, not just an older individual. While there are age-related changes that we should be mindful of when providing care, it is important to remember that an older adult’s experiences, preferences, and capabilities make their needs unique to them.
An older adult wants their symptoms explored, and an explanation for their symptoms provided; they don’t want their health concerns brushed off as age-related. In fact, assuming that something is age-related in an older adult opens the door to missed diagnoses.
They want providers to be informed, positive, encouraging, engaged, respectful, inquiring, culturally sensitive, and not condescending.
One of the best ways to accomplish all of this is to fulfill their request to “be personal, get to know me and don’t be rushed; then its easier for me to share”.

6. Some age-related changes to be mindful of
Increased time to recall or learn new things
Decreased reaction times
Decreased ability to focus
Difficulty adapting to changes in light levels
Decreased ability to resist glare
Vision
Hearing
Difficulty hearing high pitched sounds
Increased sensitivity to background noise
With aging, comes age-related changes. Here are a few to be mindful of when you are providing care to older adults. But as mentioned earlier, it is important to remember that older adults are not all alike. Their experiences, preferences, and capabilities make their care needs unique to them.
Be mindful of the fact that:
An older adult may need more time to recall or learn new things, or have decreased reaction times.
Older adults may also experience visual changes such as a decreased ability to focus or to resist glare, or difficulty adapting to changes in light levels.
Hearing may be altered in a way that makes it difficult to hear high pitched sounds, or hear a conversation when there is background noise.
And an older adult may have less physical strength than they used to, or a decrease in balance or coordination. But think about what their starting point for strength was at a younger age. For example, an older adult who was a competitive athlete may no longer be able to compete at the Olympic level, but they may still be much stronger than many others their age, or even you!
Strength
Decreased physical strength
Decreased balance / coordination

7. 10 things you can do RIGHT NOW to make your care more senior friendly
Don’t rush! Avoid rapid-fire questioning, torrents of information, and interrupting 6
Remove trip hazards in rooms and hallways 7
Offer assistance with sitting or standing, as needed 2
Use simple, common language 3
Ask if clarification is needed 8
Make sure water is available and offered 4
Talk slowly and clearly in a normal tone. Shouting or speaking in a raised voice actually distorts language sounds and can give the impression of anger 9
Make sure there is adequate lighting, including sufficient light on your face during a conversation
There are many simple things you can start doing right now to make your care more senior friendly. Try these 10:
<read the slide> 10
Ensure that printed material has: large enough print (size 14 font), clear and simple wording, and complete information 5
Eliminate background noise

8. References
What older adults want The Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto’s (RGP) sfCare Intersectoral Conference, 2018 What is senior friendly care RGP’s Senior Friendly Care (sfCare) Framework Senior-Friendly-Care-Framework-11x17-Handout.pdf Some age-related changes to be mindful of World Health Organization’s Age-friendly Primary Health Care Centres Toolkit, The Center for Health Design’s Designing for Age-Related Changes Among Older Adults, things you can do RIGHT NOW to make your care more senior friendly National Institute on Aging’s Understanding Older Patients, older-patients
This concludes our introduction to senior friendly care. Here are the resources that were used for this video. We encourage you to see what other resources are available in your organization, or check out our website great resources:
For more resources on senior friendly care, visit:

9. Driving system change to advance the quality of care for older adults living with frailty. Innovating bold solutions to complex care problems.
Better health outcomes for frail older adults
We hope this video has provided you with a better understanding of senior friendly care.
Thanks for watching, and thanks for doing what you can to make a difference in the care of older adults.
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V1 2018