Managing Confusion: Geriatric Patients A patient goes through numerous changes in their life as they enter the healthcare facility, but the psychological changes effect geriatrics in an intense manner. The loss of cognitive functioning can happen at any time throughout hospitalization, but the difficult situation can be aided by the manger of care. The manager of care, commonly referred to as the nurse, can begin handling the difficult situation of confusion before it even begins. The nursing process begins as they constantly assess the patient and document any changes that could possibly be signs of dementia or deliria. The use of early detection through assessment, communication, well-developed values, simplified tasks, and a structured …show more content…
With the nurse’s continuous attention to detail, early detection as previously stated can and will be used to find symptoms of confusion, dementia, or delirium. Research done in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society states that efforts to identify, prevent, and treat this condition may reduce the risk of adverse outcomes in older hospitalized patients (Givens, J. L., Jones, R. N., Inouye, S. K, 2009). As the nurses make detailed observations in their assessments, early identification, will be able to occur …show more content…
They can better the people experiencing the illnesses, their families, and other formal carers in the facility by constantly using their nursing process, paying attention to detail for early detection of problems, always assessing, communicating with well-developed values, providing simplified tasks, and maintaining a structured daily routine (Murray, 2014). The end goal is to provide individuals treatment for their behavioral symptoms that leads them to being discharged, but the journey from admission to the day they leave for home or a residential setting will and is aided by the countless nursing roles and responsibilities that they display
Within the U.S. Healthcare system there are different levels of healthcare; Long-Term Care also known as (LTC), Integrative Care, and Mental Health. While these services are contained within in the U.S. Healthcare system, they function on dissimilar levels.
Nurses have a considerable amount of responsibility in any facility. They are responsible for administering medicines and treatments to there patient’s. While caring for there patients, nurses will make observations on patient’s health and then record there findings. As well as consulting with doctors and other healthcare professionals to plan proper individual patient care. They teach their patients how to manage their illnesses and explain to both the patient and the patients family how to continue treatment when returning home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014-15). They also record p...
Lemiengre, J., Nelis, T., Joosten, E., Braes, T., Foreman, M., Gastmans, C., et al. (2006). Detection of Delirium by Bedside Nurses Using the Confusion Assessment Method. The American Geriatrics Society , 685-689.
1. What is the difference between a. and a. Which K, S, and A pertain to the care you provided to the patient you have chosen? Why do you need to be a member? K- Describe the limits and boundaries of therapeutic patient-centered care. S- Assess levels of physical and emotional comfort.
Staff should be able to identify the most common signs and symptoms of dementia that can
A registered nurse (RN) is someone that went through a university or college and studied nursing; and then passed the national licensing exam to obtain a license to practice nursing. The degree earned by an RN at the need of the program is deemed a professional nursing degree. The RN top nursing staff and they usually works independently. On the hand, an LPN only earns a practical nursing degree after completion of the program. LPNs are mostly recognized only in USA and Canada; they are also named as License Vocational Nurse (LVN) in the state of California and Texas. LPN work under the supervisor of an RN or a physician.
The framework of this model is utilized throughout hospital settings to form a basis for all nursing decisions in respect to nursing diagnosis, care plans, discharge planning, and quality assurance (Reynolds & Cormack, 1991). This conceptual model focuses on the effects of internal and external environments that contribute to someone’s behavior. Pain (being the internal force) in patients with altered mental status usually manifests externally in non-verbal cues. Nursing as the external force can use tools that focus on the non-verbal cues given by the patients to accurately assess the pain and properly treat it.
In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), patients are being monitored very closely while their vital signs, their neurological status, and their physical status are being managed with strong medications, lifesaving machines, and the clinical knowledge and skills of trained ICU nurses. Outside of the ICU, it is essential for staff nurses to identify the patient that is clinically deteriorating and in need of urgent intervention.
There are many who believe that the next shortage will be worse and the demand for nurses will increase. There will be more jobs available especially with the baby boomer nurses retiring. Wood believes that when nurses retire, the next shortage could be even worse than the previous shortage. According to Wood this would lead to an “intellectual drain of institutional and professional nursing knowledge” (Wood, 2011, para 15). Staiger agrees as well that a shortage of nurses is expected again when nurses retire and since the economy will be more stable full-time nurses will go back to being part-time (Huston, 2017). Huston expects for the supply of nurses to grow minimally in the next couple of years and for a large number of nurses
According to Chalmers, assessment of oral health is generally dependent upon the ability of the resident to self identify problems with their oral health and their ability to cooperate and communicate with the nursing staff(3). This illustrates a problem with those patients who do not have the cognitive ability to self identify dental problems and then effectively communicate those problems to professionals. This is extremely common with patients who suffer from dementia.
...managing the environment for the benefit of the patient to help reduce risk factors. Supportive measures by the nurse such as attention to noise reduction and lighting should be implemented to all patient care settings. The nurse should be proficient in their assessment method. The bedside nurse is in a front-line position to manage and prevent delirium.
Delirium, Depression, and Dementia are some of the most common psychological diagnoses in the elderly today. The three D’s are difficult to differentiate between in older adults because they overlap with each other and can all exist in the same patient at once. Delirium, Dementia, and Depression all affect the elderly’s quality of life and often increase the risks for one another (Downing, Caprio & Lyness, 2013). For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing primarily on the diagnosis of Dementia, the prevention, and nursing measures associated with it, but first I would like to differentiate between Delirium and Depression because Dementia is often associated with the two in the older adult population.
Falls are a common cause of death for people over the age of 65. Following accidents, fall related mortality rate has relatively stayed constant over the last four decades. The dementia disorder continues to add an increase in fall-risk. Despite their knowledge about these conditions, nursing staffs have been unsuccessful mostly in their attempts to prevent falls among impaired cognition patients. The objective of this study was to get a thorough understanding of the nursing staff’s thoughts and opinions of falls in older patients who suffer from dementia. Causes of the falls, fall-preventing interventions, routines of documentation and reporting and the nurses experience from when the fall took place were also collected and used in this study (Struksness et al., 2011).
According to the American Nurses Association, nursing is defined as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, facilitation of healing, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, 2016). Nurses have many jobs and responsibilities and wear many different hats. Nurses can perform at many different levels depending on their scope of practice which is defined by the board of nursing in one’s state of residence. It is important as nurses to understand and follow
Complex care of patients provides the nurse with a myriad of decisions to be made-however, it must be remembered that although the