Conference Chairperson & Opening Remarks

Mary McCarron, Professor of Ageing & Intellectual Disability, School of Nursing& Midwifery Trinity College Dublin

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Ethical Decision Making, Consent and Capacity for Older Patients

• Law, ethics and vulnerable groups during Covid-19
• Understanding the different ethical decision-making frameworks;
• Differentiating between morals, ethics and law;
• Understanding consent – legal elements of consent, different forms of consent, obtaining a valid consent and maximising ability to consent;
• Capacity- understanding capacity, triggers, conducting a capacity assessment, functional approach to capacity;
• Decision making – enduring power of attorney, advance healthcare directives, ward of court, “best interest” and will and preference;
• Legal parameters- an examination of current law and the future legal framework of the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act 2015.

Mary Kirwan, Lecturer and Barrister, RCSI

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Covid-19 impact on Elder Care in Nursing Homes- HIQA Report 2020

• The absence of clinical governance in most nursing homes
• Staffing levels, especially to enable staffing to be organised to care for residents in separate, self-contained groups
• Maintaining staffing levels in the event of sudden and unplanned absences
• The availability of resources such as PPE, access to specialist expertise and support
• The layout of centres and their ability to separate the location of healthy and ill residents or isolate residents as required
• The history of non-compliance with relevant key regulations, such as governance and management, premises, personal possessions and infection prevention and control.

Helen Lindsey, National Operations Manager, HIQA

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End of life decisions dementia: autonomy, best interests and ethics

• Complex decisions involving persons with dementia: resuscitation and clinically-assisted nutrition and hydration
• The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 – what changes it will make once commenced
• Ethical decision-making in end-of-life care
• The proposed Dying with Dignity Bill- what role it could play in end-of-life decisions

Nikki Saarsteiner, The Law Library

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Bone health for life, accosting the silent thief

• Poor bone health in our ageing population
• The Risk Factors for Falls and Osteoporosis
• Risk among people with intellectual disability
• Complexity of assessment and care for those with intellectual disability
• What the IDS-TILDA study teaches us
• Prevention is the best medicine
• Current services and best practice interventions
• Working with patients to improve strength and balance.

Dr.Éilish Burke, Ussher Assistant Professor in Ageing and Intellectual Disability, Trinity College

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Protecting the Rights of Older Adults

• The need for a legal framework on adult safeguarding
• Consideration of Law Reform Commission Issues Paper on A Regulatory Framework for Adult Safeguarding
• Data on types and incidences of abuse on Older Adults
• Data sharing in the context of adult safeguarding

Patricia Rickard Clarke, Solicitor & Chair of the Safeguarding Ireland

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Chronic Pain in Older Patients: Sensible and Safe Treatment

• Approach to pain management in older patients
• Factors affecting pain management
• Pain assessment
• Modes of treatment
• Pharmacological management
• Minimally invasive procedures
• Non-pharmacological pain management modalities
• The nurse prescriber’s role in the prevention of medication errors

Professor Dominic Harmon, Consultant Anaesthesia Pain Medicine, Limerick University Hospital

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Early Detection and Assessment of Cognitive Disorders

• Diseases correlated with Cognitive Decline
• The heart-brain axis: determinants of cognitive health
• Why early detection and diagnosis? 
• Biomarkers: neuroimaging, behavioural; a pluri-disciplinary approach

Céline De Looze, PhD,Research Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience, The Irish Longitudinal Study onAgeing (TILDA), School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin

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