A quest to make the twilight years a breeze
Shanghai’s efforts to improve its elderly care have borne fruit, but industry experts say more could be done to bolster the sector, Cao Chen reports.
Looking after the elderly at a nursing home used to be a painful task for Zhu Fenhua. Although she had learned basic nursing skills before, she was never taught how to manage emotional breakdowns and erratic behavior.
To deal with the stress, Zhu would often complain to her friends and family about her job.
But going back to school has eliminated any need to complain.
Zhu is among the hundreds of people who have studied for a Diploma in Elderly Service and Management that was launched by the Shanghai Open University and the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau in 2017.
According to her, the two-and-ahalf-year program has taught her important theories and practices that have helped her career as a caregiver immensely.
“All aspects of nursing are covered, including geriatric physiology, communication etiquette and rehabilitative care. I can now easily solve all those problems I used to face at work,” she says.
According to the Shanghai Open University, 523 people have enrolled in the diploma since its inception, with more than 85 percent of these students being industry practitioners like Zhu.
“We hope that caregivers in the city will be able to achieve both academic and professional development,” says Fan Jun, deputy director of education at the university.
“Students may impart what they’ve learned to colleagues, come up with innovative caregiving approaches, and this would hopefully facilitate the development of a high-quality senior care service industry and attract more people to the profession.”
One of the most aged cities in China, Shanghai has 5.03 million residents aged 60 or above. While official data also shows that 3 percent of Shanghai’s elderly population live in nursing homes, data from the Shanghai Think Tank Institute for the Aged states that there are only 60,000 caregivers for the elderly in the entire city.
In addition, 60 percent of the city’s caregivers are aged 50 and over, and the majority of them have only received a junior high school education.
“One caregiver on average serves two elderly people. They are overworked and in short supply. We urgently need more of them in society,” says Feng Jianguang, dean of the institute.
Another challenge the city faces is the lack of systematic and standardized training for caregivers, says Zhao Lijuan, head of Shanghai Aging Development Center. Fan concurred with this, sharing a story about how a caregiver once lifted a quilt to show her superior how thorough she was with cleaning the elderly resident who was lying in the bed. The resident was still naked.
“Every person’s privacy needs to be respected. But the staff member was oblivious to this. This is something that can be addressed through education and training,” says Fan.
Another issue that needs to be tackled is the salaries caregivers receive. According to the Shanghai Think Tank Institute for the Aged, the median monthly wage of Shanghai’s caregivers for the aged is between 5,000 and 6,000 yuan ($702.9-843.4). As such, only a fraction of the 3,000 people who graduate from elderly care courses every year choose to become caregivers for senior citizens. Most prefer to take jobs like hospital nurses which come with better pay and career prospects.
Improving the standards of elderly care has been one of the city’s key objectives in recent years.
In 2014, the municipal government announced a series of policies to cope with aging issues and released guidelines aimed at accelerating the development of this industry. The government also pledged to establish a comprehensive aged-care service system by 2020, which would cover service supply, elder protection, policy support and the demand for evaluation and industry supervision.
In 2016, a specialized fund for caregivers was set up, with social institutions and companies donating some 5 million yuan to the cause. The fund was used to support the establishment of the elderly care major at the Shanghai Open University.
This year in May, the government issued a plan to further bolster the elderly care sector over the next four years.
Shanghai vice-mayor Peng Chenlei said during a meeting in August that the city is aiming to build a central database of caregivers as well as standardize the training materials and ways of evaluating professionals.
“In the near future, caregivers will be assessed not just based on their skills, but also on their education background and other factors. These factors will then determine their skill levels, which could possibly be linked to how much they earn,” says Fan.
“This approach will help them achieve better career development and enhance their sense of occupational identity and self-esteem.”
Universities and nursing homes are already taking it upon themselves to improve their learning environments.
At Shanghai Open University, for instance, the faculty team now includes professionals who impart their experience to students. Teachers are also regularly sent to workshops, seminars and international exchange events to improve their skills and knowledge.
Cao Hui, a teacher in charge of the curriculum, attended a three-week training stint in the United States where she visited nursing homes in Utah.
“I managed to learn new things, such as how caregivers can create rehabilitation plans for elderly people suffering from hemiplegia instead of just keeping them in bed and offering basic daily service,” she says.
Nursing homes and private training agencies have also been sprouting up in recent years, offering another avenue for training.
For example, the nursing program at Shanghai-based Aining Care Service offers classes to help people obtain caregiver certificates.
According to the company’s founder Xia Jun, more than 1,200 caregivers and social workers have signed up for the program since it was launched in 2018.
In the near future, caregivers will be assessed not just based on their skills, but also on their education background ... This ... will help them achieve better career development ...”
Fan Jun, deputy director of education, Shanghai Open University