Spending the final chapter of your life in a nursing home is considered, by many, a fate worse than death. Others, however, have found that through enlightened, imaginative care even the frailest of lives can flourish. The key to such a transformation is to replace the constricting custodial centres of the past with a more informed, research-based approach. This book is timely, responding to evidence of the urgent need for change described in the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety Final Report: Care, Dignity and Respect and its predecessor subtitled Neglect.

In this book, the author proposes a model of care that places the whole person at its centre, sidestepping the constraints of a reductionist funding model that focusses on residents' deficits - and the proprietor's financial gain. Aged care requires a comprehensive research-based guide to fulfil this aim. Narratives are included throughout the book to reinforce the fact that nursing home care is about individual residents and their unique lives. Topics explored in various chapters include:

·         Ageing in a Changing Community

·         Social, Gerontological Care

·         A Palliative Approach

Ageing in a Nursing Home: Foundations for Care takes a realistic approach that draws on contemporary research and narratives from the unique lives of older Australians who, despite their frailty, teach us how to care. Such knowledge informs and influences their future. The book is a resource intended for all who have a stake in the provision of best practice residential aged care, and all who benefit from such care. Its academic appeal will include those who design and teach courses in aged care: gerontology, general practice medicine, nursing, attendant care, allied health, and chaplaincy. Academics and teachers will find useful, well-referenced material for their courses, together with ample scope for researchers. 

Rosalie Hudson, RN, Dip Arts, B App Sci adv.nsg., B Theol, M Theol, Grad Dip Geront., PhD, is associate professor and honorary senior fellow at the School of Nursing and Social Work, The University of Melbourne, Australia.

Rosalie is a registered nurse, former nursing home manager with 12 years' experience and several years as community nursing supervisor. Her doctoral research focused on death and dying in nursing homes.

As an 'expert witness', Rosalie assists with legal investigations into cases of negligence in aged care. She is an academic supervisor and examiner, and reviewer of academic journals. Rosalie is also an experienced keynote speaker at conferences in Australia and overseas on topics including aged care, ethics, dementia, palliative care, and spiritual care.

Rosalie has been a member of several academic boards; currently for Meaningful Ageing Australia, for whom she is honorary research consultant. She chaired a major hospital's ethics committee for ten years.

Rosalie's teaching experience includes university undergraduate and postgraduate lectures on aged care, and regular sessions at other teaching institutions.

In 2018 she was awarded Victorian Senior of the Year.