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Challenges for caring for the elderly
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Geriatrics is a pervasive topic. It is a medicinal process that comes to execution with age. It is mainly an aggregate of family medicine and a sizeable percentage of internal medicine (Stone, 2011). The main focus of the specialty is to prevent, if not treat, the older, aging adults that are sick or disabled due to the conditions that come with age. A major characteristic is that the age of one to necessitate geriatrics is not limited. However, the consequent conditions that face an individual once admitted are sometimes not favorable and impacts greatly on the aged person’s autonomy. The personal autonomy significance of any individual cannot be downplayed in any society. Moreover, the independence of a person does not depend on the sex of the age of the person. By and large, this paper delves into the conception of Geriatrics and the consequential impact on the autonomy of patients and their application to the societal life. The paper also goes ahead to focus on the aged inhabitants in the society with a particular slanting to their lives in the residential health care systems. By and by, the paper delves into composite values and expected behavior that go with the process of exerting personal independence. It also addresses the ways in which geriatrics is integrated to ensure autonomy and how both can be enhanced. Finally, it looks at the various restrictions that hinder the process of enacting the right to freedom and autonomy amongst the patients (Boulanger & Deroussent, 2008).
In contemporary times, the population of the aging people is shooting up with each passing day. This has been attributed to a number of factors in the residential health center that has contributed to people living unusually longer than the conventio...
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...er as they dread the aftermath of joining the care centers more so when they consider autonomy. Nonetheless, with changing times and administration of the checkpoints above, the feeling and approach of geriatrics is bound to change and individuals will henceforth look forward to old age.
Works Cited
Boulanger, J.R., & Deroussent, C. (2008). Preliminary Based Service Evaluation for Elderly People and Healthcare Professionals in Residential Home Care Units. Digital Society.
Exel, N. J., Ruiter, M. D., & Brouwer, W. B. (2008). When Time is Not on Your Side: Patient Experiences with Waiting for Home Care and Admission to a Nursing or Residential Home.
Raymond, I., & Heseltine, J. P. (2008). What does it mean to be an adult? Perceptions of Young Men in Residential care. Child care Quarterly Journal, 103-206.
Stone, C. L. (2011). Geriatrics. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
In elderly population most of the research carried out so far emphasizes on the functional problems and diseases. When it comes to successful aging elderly (SEA), it has been recommended that health status should be used to distinguish between elderly subgroups populace and disease-free people possible describe successful aging elderly (SAE).
Beneficence is the principle of working in someone's best interest, in this sense, preventing harm from falls by promoting safety. Nonmaleficence allows the nursing staff opportunities to avoid actually causing harm again by, promoting safety to better integrate ethical principles into our practice. Many interventions are implemented with safety as the priority; yet, there are times when autonomy supersedes safety, for instance, patients who are cognitively with it stands on their choices and eventually ends up overestimate there limits. Today in long-term care facility bed alarm usage is considered to be a restrain and was discontinue because it was said to be the cause of most falls due to fear when activated. Purposeful rounding and maintaining toileting programs and other interventions applied to all patients, such as universal fall precautions would encourage independence in older adults at the same time respect patient’s values, wishes, and choices. One of the most difficult ethical dilemmas that arise for nurses and related health care providers is finding the balance between promoting independence and autonomy for seniors by not interfering with their life goals, but by trying to act responsibly and promote health and
Patient autonomy was the predominant concern during the time of publication of both Ezekiel and Linda Emanuel, and Edmund D. Pellegrino and David C. Thomasma's texts. During that time, the paternalistic model, in which a doctor uses their skills to understand the disease and choose a best course of action for the patient to take, had been replaced by the informative model, one which centered around patient autonomy. The latter model featured a relationship where the control over medical decisions was solely given to the patient and the doctor was reduced to a technical expert. Pellegrino and Thomasma and the Emanuel’s found that the shift from one extreme, the paternalistic model, to the other, the informative model, did not adequately move towards an ideal model. The problem with the informative model, according to the Emanuel’s, is that the autonomy described is simple, which means the model “presupposes that p...
Long-term care (LTC) covers a wide range of clinical and social services for those who need assistance due to functional limitations. These limitations usually result from complications associated with age related chronic conditions, from disabilities related to birth defects, brain damage, or mental retardation in children; or from major illnesses or injuries suffered by adults (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). LTC encompasses a variety of services including traditional clinical services, social services and housing. Unlike acute care, long-term care is much more complicated and has objectives that are much harder to measure. Acute care mainly focuses on returning patients to their previous functional level and is primarily provided by specialty providers. However, LTC mainly focuses on preventing the physical and mental deterioration of an individual and promoting social adjustments to suit the different stages of decline. In addition the providers of LTC are more diverse than those in acute care and is offered in both formal and informal settings, which include: hospitals, physicians, home care, adult day care, nursing home care, assisted living and even informal caregivers such as friends and family members. Long-term care services have been dominated by community based services, which include informal care (86%, about 10 to 11 million) and formal institutional care delivered in nursing facilities (14%, 1.6 million) (McCall, 2001). Of more than the 10 million Americans estimated to require LTC services, 58% are elderly and 42% are under the age of 65 (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). The users of LTC are either frail elderly or disabled and because of the specific care needs of this population, the care varies based on an indiv...
Aging is a natural part of human life. With modern technologies and medical innovations, the society has been able to prolong life and thus increase the number of older adults in the society. Normal part of aging are inevitable physiological and psychological changes, which need to be understood and addressed by nurses in order to provide appropriate care for older adults. Presenting patient’s description with appropriate data, I will utilize Watson’s Caring theory (2008) to assess the lower order need of activity-inactivity relative to this older adult patient cared for in the hospitalized environment. The integration of theory, research and best practice guidelines will be used to plan nursing interventions and strategies to meet the health needs of older adults in health care. Watson’s (2008) fourth caritas process of developing and sustaining a helping-trusting caring relationship will be used to describe the nursing implementations which were utilized in providing safe and competent care for older adult.
Assisted living is an effective type of care facility programmed towards helping older individuals with their increasing disabilities. “The fit between individual capacity and the availability of satisfying activities within an environment is an important aspect of positive aging and an especially salient issue for ALF [Assisted Living Faculty] management, given the role of activities in the consumer selection of assisted living”.2 This isolation of this quote is “positive aging”. Positive aging is important since it leads individuals to have a happier and more fulfilling life, and it can be supported through everyday activities and through the living environment. In nursing homes, each individual needs help with making sure that they are given care that meets their needs. This varies through different states and also communities. The purpose of the quote is to show that each person should be evaluated individually, meaning everyone needs a different approach to deal with the aging process.
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
...th professionals, were significantly more cynical toward and distrustful of older adults” (p. 63). The findings in Meisner’s (2012) conveyed that physicians demonstrated attitudes about older patients including feelings of these individuals being “disengaged and unproductive” while assuming that these characteristics applied to all of the older patients regardless of each person’s actual abilities (p. 63). Combing all older adults into one category defined by disability and dysfunction is detrimental to the well-being of each patient. Chronological age is not the determining factor relative to treatment; functional age is a better testament to expected outcomes for a patient. It is imperative that physicians understand what is “normal aging” rather than searching for pathologies based on symptoms that are just part of this aging process. According to Meisner
The principle of autonomy states, that an individual’s decision must be respected in all cases, also an individual can act freely in accordance to their plan. For example, in a case where a patient and family demands to continue medical or surgical care and a physician want the patient to stop further treatment. In this case the patient’s choice will matter the most. According to the principle of autonomy it will be the patients and family choice whether to continue or discontinue treatment. The principle of beneficence which states, “one must promote good” comes into play in this case. In accordance to beneficence the patient will not benefit from the physicians responses personally. He/she will not benefit from harming her body with more surgeries. The patient will be going against the principle non-maleficence, which states that “one must cause no harm to an individual” by causing harm to herself. In this case the physician is justified in his/her actions by discontinuing medical or surgical care to the patient because it will not it her. These principles are what healthcare provider use to help and guide patients with the ...
The aim of the analysis is meant to clarify the meaning of the word autonomy thereby the introduction of a concept. Clarification is needed as the word autonomy does have several meanings and not all apply to medical terminology, some meanings span to philosophy, technology and general decision making. The medical meaning is significant in the care of patients for improved outcomes through choice and educated decision making on the part of the patient. Autonomy can be empowering as a concept or even as a single word.
The public agencies such as CMS have periodically made drastic changes to their reimbursement policies. In 2003, the CMS began the hospital quality initiative and Home Health quality Initiatives ( Denisco & Barker, 2013). The hospital quality initiative mainly focused on Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), heart failure ( HF), and pneumonia( PNE). The home health quality initiatives also focused on quality measures for individuals receiving home care services ( DeNisco & Barker, 2013). In 2001 about 3.5 million disabled and elderly Americans received care from 7,000 Medicare certified home health agencies and about 3 Million elderly and disabled Americans received care from 17,000 Medicare and Medicaid certified Nursing Homes ( DeNisco & Barker, 2013). In 2004, CMS Nursing home Quality Initiative started 14 quality measures in the areas of delirium, pain( acute and chronic), incontinence, decline in activities of daily living, physical restraints, worsening of anxiety and depression, pressure sores, indwelling catheters, mobility decline, bedfast, weight loss and urinary tract infections( DeNisco & Barker, 2013). The National...
Fjelltun, A., Henriksen, N., Norberg, A., Gilje, F., Normann, H. (2009) Nurses’ and carers’ appraisals of workload in care of frail elderly awaiting nursing home placement. Scand J Caring Sci [online] volume 23, p57–66 Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=9&hid=2&sid=3f0cc818-facd-44f5-99fc-3c06a0edbd5c%40sessionmgr104 [Accessed 23 March, 2010]
Many countries globally are faced with unprecedented demographic changes from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and fertility, giving rise to an ageing population. Population ageing is profound and enduring, and has major consequences and implications for all facets of human life. With a larger proportion of older people, one of the major concerns is health care. The health of older persons generally declines with age and some illness are more likely to be associated with older people. One of such illness is dementia. As the life expectancies of the general population have dramatically increased since the turn of the century, more and more people are at risk of developing dementia (National Institute of Aging, 2000).
Aging is universal and it is a process that everyone has to go through. The only difference is that everyone goes through this process at their own pace influenced by factors that will be discussed later on in this paper. When we think about factors that have an influence on older adults and how their life may be affected, we must consider the different social institutions while analyzing influences from social factors, cultural factors, and personal values. Abuse to older adults, stereotyping and informal care and technological advancements that affect older adults are the three topics that will be discussed in this reflection. Furthermore, will connect the three topics I have chosen to the knowledge that I have gained from my interaction
When you think of the word adult many things may come to mind; age, responsibility, being the bigger person and goals are just a few. Everyone eventually becomes an adult but just because you turn eighteen does not mean you should be considered as one. “I think one of the defining moments of adulthood is the realization that nobody 's going to take care of you. That you have to do the heavy lifting while you 're here. And when you don 't, well, you suffer the consequences.” (Adam Savage, brainyquote.com) Adulthood requires sacrifice and a good mindset. Sometimes people aren’t shown how to take care of themselves, this being either too babied or not having anyone to look up to. Growing up is hard but no one says you have to do it alone. It is nice to get advice here and there from those that have been through the newly-adulted stage. Being an adult is not just an age.