NUR1299 Foundations Of Nursing Practice 2

Introduction

Aged care involves provision of services to meet the unique needs of old people within a country (Brandhorst, Baldassar & Wilding, 2019). This care services can be provided in nursing homes for the elderly or at their primary residential areas and homes whereby a care giver monitors their health and ensures their needs are well addressed. The aim of this essay is to identify a care facility for the elderly and clearly articulate important aspects regarding the facility as well as to explore a given degenerative condition that affects the elderly and discuss end of life care associated with the condition.

Blue care carramar facility

Blue care carramar aged care facility is located within carramar retirement living village. The facility offers a range of accommodation to the aged people above 65 years. The accommodation includes retirement living homes as well as the aged care facility. Every building in the facility is named with aboriginal origin. It has 72 suites with ensuites spread across one level. The characteristics of residents living in the facility include aged individuals who have retired and have opted to live in a care friendly environment. There are a variety of staff and allied health care providers that are involved and these include physiotherapists, speech pathologists, dietetics, podiatry, optometry, hearing and dental services.

Degenerative conditions

There are several degenerative conditions associated with aging. Dementia is an example of a degenerative condition whereby people undergo gradual loss of thinking, memory and other cognitive functions. The gradual loss of memory and reasoning incapacitates the affected such that they cannot perform simple tasks that they used to perform before (Jorgensen & Haddock, 2018). It affects mainly the elderly people above the age of 65 years and worsens over time. Since it is a major degenerative condition, end of life care is an important aspect of care when it comes to dementia (Vandemeulebroucke, de Casterle & Gastmans, 2018). This care provision aims at helping individuals with a progressed disease in their final stretches of life and is mainly palliative.

The type of care delivered to patients faced with dementia depends on the stage of progression of the disease. Since the patient might not be in a position to make decisions for their care, the care giver should always act in the best interest of the patient (Frey et al, 2018). The care giver can for example assess if medication would be of any significance in alleviating some of the symptoms. In later stages of the disease, the care giver might not prescribe any medicine since they might not make any difference and the associated side effects may worsen the condition instead. The needs of the patient must be observed by the care giver in order to provide a patient centered holistic care that satisfies the patient. This involves providing not only physical care but also emotional and spiritual care that will make a positive difference in the patient’s final phases of life. Other aspects of care that can be given to dementia patients include provision of reminders that enable the patients to remember performing certain tasks (Parry et al, 2019). This can be done by provision of talking clocks or other devices that help them remember activities.

There are several duties that students can provide in the care of those suffering from degenerative conditions such as dementia. This includes providing assistance to the patients where necessary such as helping them take meals on time and helping them get out of their beds when in need. Care facilities for the aged should have reachers, shower chairs for bathing and elevated toilet seats (Sjögren et al, 2017). All facilities for the elderly should therefore be well equipped with such structures. Blue care carramar is well equipped and has all that is needed to take care of the old people.

Personal reflection

In my visit to the blue care carramar, there are a number of activities I was involved in. in one of the experiences, a 70 year old man who was suffering from dementia was received in the facility. I was delegated to care for him. At first I was scared as well as anxious as I did not know what impact I would make on the patient. The patient could not be able to perform any task without being reminded and therefore I needed to help him perform even the simplest of tasks such as brushing his teeth. I would help him take meals and remind him to take a bath. On evaluation of this event, the patient was always joyful and seemed to comply whenever I reminded him to perform a certain self-care task such as brushing teeth or showering. Because of this experience of caring for this patient, I was able to have a better understanding of the condition and how to approach similar conditions if I came across any. Looking back, it helped me learn that people with dementia are capable of performing tasks so long as they are reminded adequately. I also learnt that it is necessary to be always there for them as a primary care giver in order to ensure their safety and well-being.

References

Brandhorst, R., Baldassar, L., & Wilding, R. (2019). The need for a ‘migration turn’in aged care policy: a comparative study of Australian and German migration policies and their impact on migrant aged care. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-18.

Frey, R., Balmer, D., Robinson, J., Slark, J., McLeod, H., Gott, M., & Boyd, M. (2018). “To a better place”: The role of religious belief for staff in residential aged care in coping with resident deaths. European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 19, 89-99.

Jorgensen, M., & Haddock, R. (2018). The impact of the home care reforms on the older person, the aged care workforce and the wider Health System.

Parry, S., Chow, M., Batchelor, F., & Fary, R. E. (2019). Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in a residential aged care facility. Australasian journal on ageing, 38(1), E12-E18.

Sjögren, K., Lindkvist, M., Sandman, P. O., Zingmark, K., & Edvardsson, D. (2017). Organisational and environmental characteristics of residential aged care units providing highly person-centred care: a cross sectional study. BMC nursing, 16(1), 44.

Vandemeulebroucke, T., de Casterle, B. D., & Gastmans, C. (2018). The use of care robots in aged care: A systematic review of argument-based ethics literature. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 74, 15-25.