The institutional affiliation
The work in the long-term care (LTC) centers is the one that should deal with the emotional interaction between a patient and a nurse. The majority of patients are elderly or people with numerous afflictions and diagnoses. Long-term care nursing is a medical specialty that includes assisting patients who require extended care, as they deal with disabilities and chronic illnesses (Allnurses.com, 2015). These nurses have a wide range of responsibilities in such simple activities as feeding, dressing, toileting and bathing, as well as providing medical care in vital sign check, intravenous therapy, enteral tube feedings, change different catheters, respiratory therapy, and medication administration.
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In the LTC centers nurses cooperate with physicians, dieticians, speech language pathologists, social workers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and other members of the medical and social sectors (Allnurses.com, 2015).
Routine duties with the patients demand lots of extraordinary patience, knowledge of nursing interventions, analytical thinking, and compassion for helping people. So, it is a very challenging and at the same time rewarding job.
The article “Be someone's angel: A long-term-care nurse” by Donna Smouse Ferguson has a description of a nurse’s work in long-term care with her patients (Nursingcenter.com, 2015). Information about these patients causes a sensation of sympathy to the hard circumstances in their lives and makes one think about your own way of life and that your personal problems are not so important. The residents of the LTC center are disabled people, soldiers of the First and Second World Wars, people with Alzheimer’s disease, chronic illness, etc. The self-sacrificing attitude of nurses to their patients impresses and admires. The author writes, “You may be the reason your resident’s smiles, be the highlight of his day” (Nursingcenter.com, 2015), as it is necessary to be ready to give both medical help and to be a psychologist. She mentions how important is to listen to the patients, hug them when they are sad, encourage or just say some nice words.
As the patients need more special care it is important to forecast the problem of staff shortage and avoid the mechanical accomplishment of the work and overworking. People in the LTC centers are called residents, as it is their constant place of living and time spending. Being always in the same place, being surrounded by the same people is the reason for boredom, frustration and isolation of residents. That is a good idea to organize and involve residents in different kinds of activities like, for example, in Inglis House, Philadelphia (music, pet, plant therapy) (Bechhuber, Marcus. (2013). One more thing is to create friendly atmosphere of community and promote socializing between residents, improve their relations with relatives with the help of psychologies.
If to speak about administrative issues, in particular, at the level of the nursing assistant, first of all, it is desirable to hire more staff and provide some kind of educational program or training courses on improvement of the nursing experience.
Second, the caregivers and administrators should take care about the convenient facilities for the residents and, of course, it is in the interest of administration to improve these facilities from time to time. Among the facilities there are to be implemented: location of the LTC center, menus, bathrooms, safety, and outdoor areas.
Third, medical governmental organizations generally pay a small part of LTC costs, while the patients or their families pay larger portion for some additional services. Though, providing proper care of such patients should be the first concern of the government.
In conclusion it should be said about the importance of the nurse to be helpful and kind to every person on every level of our social life and do not forget that time flies quickly and someday each of us will need some care.
References
Allnurses.com. (2015). Long-Term Care Nursing: A Specialty In Its Own Right. Retrieved 26 July 2015, from http://allnurses.com/geriatric-nurses-ltc/long-term-care-746461.html
Bechhuber, Marcus. (2013) The View from Here: Resident Quality of Life at Long Term Care Facilities Inglis House, Philadelphia. Retrieved 26 July 2015, from https://www.med.upenn.edu/rwjcsp/documents/2013InglisTypesetFinalDraftSmall.pdf
Nursingcenter.com. (2015). Nursing Journals | NursingCenter. Retrieved 26 July 2015, from http://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=836018#P21
