The elderly population, beyond the age of 65 has tremendously increased, and current projections indicate that this population will continually increase in the coming years. The healthcare settings have not gone free of these changing demographics, and there has been a need to develop policies that cut across all healthcare settings to facilitate quality care for the aging population (Bennett & Flaherty-Robb, 2003). Different literatures have addressed the issue of care for the elderly population in various ways. While many recommendations exist at technical level, the primary idea is that the healthcare sector needs to adopt policies that facilitate quality and safe care for elderly patients with focus on their individual needs as dictated by the aging factor. Hospitals and care institution should be at the forefront to ensure that these senior citizens are accorded the best care. It should also seek to provide health promotion techniques to the baby boomers generation to adopt behavioral techniques that can assure them of a healthy future (Tolson et al., 2011).
Aubry, F., Etheridge, F., & Couturier, Y. (2012). Facilitating Change Among Nursing Assistants in Long-Term Care. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(1).
The article describes that the nursing assistants play a crucial role in long-term healthcare. Aubry et al. (2012) insist that the most important aspect is to facilitate innovative nursing practices in Long-term care settings by actively engaging the nurse assistants. This is since they have first-hand information about the needs of the elderly population. Such innovations should be geared towards prevention the most prevalent conditions that affect senior citizens such as insomnia, incontinence, pressure ulcers, falls, dehydration, dysphagia and mistreatment. However, the study notes that such innovative care practices are based on a systematic change management and multidisciplinary approach to ensure that they work to benefit the intended patients. This is because, as much as policies may be entrenched at national level or local level, it is the responsibility of the staff at the institutions to facilitate the harmonizing of such policies to suit the needs of their patients. The study will help familiarize with current policies that focus on care for the elderly and how they have been applied elsewhere.
Hanks-Bell, M., Halvey, K., & Paice, J. A. (2004). Pain assessment and management in aging. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 9(3), 1-18.
Hanks-Bell et al. (2004) indicate that the pain in older adults is usually presumed as a portion of the aging factor. Surprisingly, the study indicates that the healthcare setting have not taken any particular initiatives to help resolve such reported cases of persistent pain by the elderly or at least encourage them to report even the minor cases of pain. The study notes that elderly adults have a higher chance of undertreated for pain. This is associated with several obstacles such as a lack of appropriate education programs for healthcare professionals and cost concerns which place a burden to healthcare institutions especially with financial constraints. Other factors that relate to the patient include reluctance to pain reporting and reluctance to taking analgesics. As such, it is critical that the physician or the nurse develops a comprehensive physical and history assessment of the patient to ascertain the primary causes of pain. The study notes that pain has considerable impacts on the patient’s cognitive, emotional and societal functioning and, therefore, such barriers should be eliminated to help overcome the development of the pain to a chronic level. The study provides a detailed discussion of the barriers to treatment of pain in the elderly and thus will help discover how these barriers can be overcome while also creating awareness to the nurses in long-term healthcare settings.
Bennett, J. A., & Flaherty-Robb, M. K. (2003). Issues affecting the health of older citizens: Meeting the challenge. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 8(2), 2.
Bennett & Flaherty-Robb (2003) describe that the healthcare setting has in recent years experienced a change in demographics of the population it serves. Surprisingly, this has not been in the number of young people or middle-aged patients but the number of patients in long-term care beyond the age of sixty-five. The increased number of senior citizens in accessing healthcare has called for the need to change the care practices currently or previously used in order to appropriately serve this elderly generation. The elderly population is usually in a phase where the physical, psychological and cognitive capabilities are limited by the aging factor. It is thus appropriate that the care offered to them is tailored to meet such limitations and subsequently bring to an end the notion that age comes with an associated pain. The study by Bennett & Flaherty-Robb (2003) will help discover the several approaches that can be used to develop practices that tailor with the needs of this population.
Potkanowicz, E., Hartman-Stein, P., & Biermann, J. (2009). Behavioral determinants of health aging revisited: An update on the good news for the baby boomer generation. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3).
In this study, Potkanowicz et al. (2009) notes that by the year 2030, the population of adults beyond the age of 65 is expected to go beyond the 71 million mark which will essentially be more than 21% of the total population. The study notes that the Baby boomers generation has a role to play in securing their future especially in respect to health at older age. Behavioral techniques such as continued physical exercise and appropriate dietary planning should be the key. This coupled with enrollment in the social security benefits schemes could provide a haven at older age. The study insists on the need for personal management to secure a high-quality life at late stages of life. The study will be helpful in understanding those programs and interventions that can be administered to reduce the burden on hospitals through involving the populations as they enter old age.
Edlund, B., Lufkin, S., & Franklin, B. (2003). Long-term care planning for baby boomers: Addressing an uncertain future. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing,8(2), 3.
Edlund et al. (2003) describes long-term care as personal initiative for the patient that should begin in the early stages of life. the study indicates that while Medicare has had overwhelming benefits to the populations and in specific the elderly population, there are still limitations to the fund that do not adequately care for the needs of the elderly population. In essence, the costs and benefits of Medicare at old age are significantly stressing to the old population. Nurses, as the study indicates have a role to play as educators, innovators, advocators and coordinators o the available resources to help meet the needs of the elderly population now and into the future. This study will be helpful in developing an analysis of the role of the person and the nurse in facilitating quality life at elderly age amidst the overbearing challenges.
Heyland, D. K., Barwich, D., Pichora, D., Dodek, P., Lamontagne, F., You, J. J., & Canadian Researchers at the End of Life Network (CARENET. (2013). Failure to engage hospitalized elderly patients and their families in advance care planning. JAMA internal medicine, 173(9), 778-787.
Heyland et al. (2013) in their study sought to determine the role of the family members in ensuring high-quality care for their elderly patients. The authors note that advanced care planning can significantly improve person-centered care as well as reduce the rampant cases of disease or illness intensification. The study results based on research findings conducted on 513 patients and a total of 366 family members indicated that the family member plays a crucial role in helping deliver appropriate care. This was based on the fact that these family members have a well-versed history of the patient and thus know their treatment preference which if ignored could lead to psychological and emotional pain to the patient. The idea is thus to develop a working relationship between the nurse and the family members. The study will be important in offering insights into the roles of the family member and how they can be engaged positively in the care process for their aging patient.
Tan, P. X. Z., & Chua, G. C. (2013). Nursing Care of the Elderly Surgical Patients. In Colorectal Cancer in the Elderly (pp. 121-140). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Old age is associated with complex health conditions that may require surgical interventions. As such, the elderly present a unique group of people due to the frequency of surgery and prevalence of conditions that may require surgery. Tan and Chua (2013) exemplify why it is important to adopt specialized care for the elderly surgical patients. Unlike the young surgical patients, who take a very post-op period to regain their normal health, the elderly are pretty slow in terms of fully recuperating after surgery. This article as such illustrates the different surgical care options available and unique to this group as a way of addressing their unique needs. Tan and Chua (2013) emphasize on the need for consistent post-surgical care in a bid to foster proper recuperation and assurance during post-op recovery.
Oliveira, J. M., Ferreira, C. P., Lúcio, I. M., Rozendo, C. A., Vasconcelos, E. L., & Brandão, G. C. (2013). Nursing care to the elderly in the family health strategy: an integrative review. Journal of Nursing UFPE online [JNUOL/DOI: 10.5205/01012007], 7(12), 7165-7174.
This article is an integrative review of family health strategy as an intervention for providing geriatric care. This article can be deemed resourceful as it brings in the contribution of different authors to the topic-geriatric care. Amidst the apparent nursing shortage that is facing the global health system, caring for the increasing elderly population is becoming a tall order. However, as depicted by this article, family health strategy or family-centered care promises to provide an opportunity in terms of caring for the old. Use of the family strategy can guarantee proper geriatric care without necessarily involving full-time nurses or clinicians. However, as an intervention, this approach should be guided by strong nursing principles that should be inculcated to the family members.
d'Arcy, L. P., Stearns, S. C., Domino, M. E., Hanson, L. C., & Weinberger, M. (2013). Is geriatric care associated with less emergency department use?.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 61(1), 4-11.
The elderly are frequent clients of the emergency room due to elderly complications that occur with age. Therefore, this article seeks to explore the role of geriatric care in reducing emergency cases of the geriatric patients. Geriatric nursing is fast evolving and becoming widely acceptable due to a myriad of benefits that accrue to the practice. According to this study, geriatric care and nursing can significantly reduce rates of admissions in the emergency department for the elderly. It thus recommends widespread installation of geriatric care to prevent emergency situations that are life-threatening for the elderly.
Tolson, D., Morley, J. E., Rolland, Y., & Vellas, B. (2011). Advancing nursing home practice: the International Association of Geriatrics and Gerontology Recommendations. Geriatric Nursing, 32(3), 195-197.
According to this article nursing homes for the elderly and other special groups, has yield valuable fruits in terms of promoting health. However, amidst the complexities presented by the elderly patients there is the need to advance nursing home practice to suit the needs of the elderly. As Tolson et al. (2011), recommends, nursing homes for the elderly should be packed with multidisciplinary professionals to take care of the elderly health needs in a holistic manner. Moreover, there is an urgency to practice regular assessment to the old as well as their levels of comfort within nursing homes and identifying external threats such as abuse.
References
Aubry, F., Etheridge, F., & Couturier, Y. (2012). Facilitating Change Among Nursing Assistants in Long Term Care. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(1).
Bennett, J. A., & Flaherty-Robb, M. K. (2003). Issues affecting the health of older citizens: Meeting the challenge. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 8(2), 2.
d'Arcy, L. P., Stearns, S. C., Domino, M. E., Hanson, L. C., & Weinberger, M. (2013). Is geriatric care associated with less emergency department use?.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 61(1), 4-11.
Edlund, B., Lufkin, S., & Franklin, B. (2003). Long-term care planning for baby boomers: Addressing an uncertain future. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing,8(2), 3.
Hanks-Bell, M., Halvey, K., & Paice, J. A. (2004). Pain assessment and management in aging. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 9(3), 1-18.
Heyland, D. K., Barwich, D., Pichora, D., Dodek, P., Lamontagne, F., You, J. J., & Canadian Researchers at the End of Life Network (CARENET. (2013). Failure to engage hospitalized elderly patients and their families in advance care planning. JAMA internal medicine, 173(9), 778-787.
Oliveira, J. M., Ferreira, C. P., Lúcio, I. M., Rozendo, C. A., Vasconcelos, E. L., & Brandão, G. C. (2013). Nursing care to the elderly in the family health strategy: integrative review. Journal of Nursing UFPE on line [JNUOL/DOI: 10.5205/01012007], 7(12), 7165-7174.
Potkanowicz, E., Hartman-Stein, P., & Biermann, J. (2009). Behavioral determinants of health aging revisited: An update on the good news for the baby boomer generation. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3).
Tan, P. X. Z., & Chua, G. C. (2013). Nursing Care of the Elderly Surgical Patients. In Colorectal Cancer in the Elderly (pp. 121-140). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Tolson, D., Morley, J. E., Rolland, Y., & Vellas, B. (2011). Advancing nursing home practice: the International Association of Geriatrics and Gerontology Recommendations. Geriatric Nursing, 32(3), 195-197.
