A Geriatric Care Assistant (GCA) can be defined as a trained and certified health-care worker who usually works in a hospital, home or Old Age home environment and provide care to the elderly or old age patients. Internationally they may be called by similar names such as Elderly Care Attendants, Geriatric Nursing Aides or Patient Care Assistants.

Objectives
The program aims at making a student competent to perform the following skills:

Demonstrate skills in basic geriatrics care such as assessment, patient positions, movements, preparation of facilities/environment of the patient, feeding, hygience, grooming, dressing, bathing and elimination needs of the geriatric patients, oral care, hari care, eye and ear care, skin, nail and foot care of geriatric patients.

Demonstrate skills in management of positions & pressure points, disabilities and well being of geriatric patient, including counseling skills and management of mental health issues in geriatric patients as well as Basic Life Support(BLS) measures & first aid in the event of emergencies.
 

With the increase in geriatric population as wells as social limitations such as nuclear families, there is greater evidence of requirement of Geriatric Care Assistants.

The GCA program is thus a platform for gaining knowledge, to understand the activities and variety of care interventions that are required by an elderly patient.

Admission Procedure
Admission cycle of this programme is from January to June and July to December every year. Admission in the this Programme will be offered through the common prospectus of IGNOU available through online. Please visit the IGNOU website for applying online for admission.

Implementation
The programme is implemented through a network of Programme Study Centres (PSCs). These Programme Study Centres are located in health care institutions like medical colleges/hospitals, state pollution control boards, UGC recognised or accepted Universities, NGO’s involved in the training for bio-medical waste management etc. A team of trained teachers called counsellors have been identified and trained for providing academic counselling and project evaluation in the Programme Study Centres. The administrative control is through the Regional Centres (RCs) of IGNOU located usually at state capitals and the School of Health Sciences (SOHS) located at the IGNOU Headquarters, Delhi, India.

Programme Package
A multimedia package consists of print material in the form of booklets called blocks, audio-visual materials, counseling, radiocounselling, assignments, project and workshop in established Programme Study Centres (PSC). The programme has two theory courses of 6 credits each, (one credit is equivalent to 30 learning hours). The learners can also access interactive self-learning material, programme/course relates material anytime, anywhere, through the web support platform. They can interact with the peers, and counselors synchronously and asynchronously using discussion forums, chat and video conferencing facility.

Continuous Evaluation of Theory Component - Assignments
Assignment is a means of continuing assessment of the theory with a weightage of 30%. These assignments consist of a set of questions and activities that a student is required to undertake at his own place by referring to the blocks. Assignments help to recapitulate the theory. Thus assignments also help to reinforce learning in distance learning system of education. The assignments carry thirty percent weightage. Students are required to obtain forty percent marks as pass percentage in each assignment separately.

Term-end Examination
Term-end examination for theory is held twice in a year i.e. in the month of June/December. There will be one paper for each of the theory/elective courses heaving a weightage of 70% . A student has to secure at least 40% of the marks in each of the theory/elective papers for successful completion.

A student could appear in one or more papers of the theory/elective courses at a time. For appearing in the theory term-end examination, the student should fulfill two requisites, i.e. filling up the form in time and timely submission of assignments related to that theory paper or the papers that he/she want to appear. The theory term end examination form is available on the IGNOU website.
 

For further details, please contact the following:
E-mail: cgca@ignou.ac.in
Phone Number: +91-11-29572851