NURS3003 Dynamics Of Practice 3
Question:
Case study about personal care needs and identify the role of the registered nurse in facilitating the resources and health care personnel required to address the specific health care need to advocate for the patient to stay at home not to go in an aged care facility in the Australian context.
Case
Patient: Martin CHEN
DOB: 1/2/1941
Weight: 110 kgs
Height: 168cms
Family/significant others
Wife: Cathy, Two sons: Jason and Kenneth and two daughters: Mandy and Chu.
In 2005, Cathy died as a result of bowel cancer.
In 1997 Martin emigrated to Australia from Hong Kong with his wife and four children.
All of Martins children are now grown adults with children of their own. Since his wifes death in 2005, Martin has lived with his youngest daughter Chu who is a pharmacist and her husband Eric. Chu and Eric have two teenage children, Lily and Cherry.
Past medical history:
Hypercholesterolaemia
Hypertension
Trans ischaemic attack 2018
T2 diabetes mellitus (Last HbA1C 6 months ago= 7%)
Past family history
Father – Myocardial infarction age 52- deceased
Brother – Cerebro vascular Accident age 60- deceased
Allergies:
Non steroidalanti inflammatory medications (NSAIDs)
Sulphonamides
Medications:
Lipitor (atorvastatin) 40mg daily
Metformin 1000mg daily
Carvedilol IR 6.25mg b.d.(commenced while in hospital recently)
Martin and his family have strong Buddhist beliefs. As Martin doesn’t drive, he attends the Buddhist temple in Adelaide when one of his children can drive him. Martin feels that the visits to the temple provide him with much needed time for meditation and relaxation. For many years, martin has contributed to the family by cooking and tending to the vegetable garden, although he prefers to eat take away meals himself.
Over the last couple of years Martins health has begun to deteriorate and Chua and Eric have become more concerned with his erratic behaviours. Martins ability to speak English seems to be getting worse and worse –he sometimes struggles finding the right words and understanding what people are saying. When this happens, he becomes quite agitated.
Over the past year or so, when the family is asleep, martin often awakens and cries out. He seems fearful and confused and thinks he is back in Hong Kong.
On a few occasions Martin has left the stove unattended, burning the food. Once Lilly and Cherry watched on in amusement as their grandfather carefully placed a garden fork in the back of the freezer. Martin has become increasingly frustrated when he cannot remember the names of people and of common household objects. Recently Martin told Chua that the neighbour was poisoning the soil in their garden and deliberately killing some of the vegetables.
Chua and Eric have been wanting to take their daughters on an overseas holiday but feel that it would be unsafe to leave Martin alone in the family home.
Martin was recently admitted to hospital for a colonoscopy, however, he was formally admitted for five days because his blood pressure was extremely high. During his hospital stay, the nurses called three code black emergencies due to Martins aggressive behaviour when he was trying to leave the ward to go home.
Once Martins blood pressure and BGL levels settled, martin was discharged home.They also noticed a small ulcer on his L great which was dressed prior to discharge.
The essay should include
- A brief introduction (no more than a small paragraph) informing the reader what is to follow is required, you do not need to provide the case study patient information in full. i.e. This paper will discuss.
- Identification of your identified care need
- Identification of resources, and associated care required for this patient (in relation to the identified care need)
- An explanation of the role of the registered nurse in providing/assisting the patient to access the required resources and liaising with the required health care personnel.
- A brief rationale as to the benefits of the patient either transitioning to home
- A conclusion is required that sums up the main points of the content of your presentation and the reason/s why you believe that the patient will benefit from transitioning to home. (in relation to your specific care need only).
- It is expected that you will support your assertions using up to date relevant evidence based peer reviewed sources as required. This may include a variety of sources including government and other online sites.
Answer:
Introduction
Consumer-directed care (CDC) is embraced in Australia as an important means of promoting patient’s autonomy and selection of the choice of delivery of the health and the social services (Commonwealth of Australia, 2012). The following essay is based on the analysis of the healthcare and personal needs in order to ensure special focus over the independence and mobility needs of an older adult named Martin Chen. The aim of the essay is to advocate patient to stay at home not to go in an aged care facility. In doing so, the essay will initiate analysis of the main needs of Martin followed by resources that will be important to satisfy his needs. This will be followed by role of the registered nurse in assisting patients and his family members to avail the service and liaising with the required health care personnel. At the end, the essay will provide rationale behind importance of staying at home for the older adults.
Identified care need
The analysis of the case study highlights that Martin Chen who is at present 78 years, mild be suffering from initial stages of dementia. Brataas et al. (2010) stated the older adults who are above 65 years of age are vulnerable towards developing neurodegenerative disorder like dementia. As per the case study he is forgetting English terms and phrases while communicating, while the stove remains unattended with burning food. Kosse et al. (2015) stated that loss or fragment loss of memory is the initial stage of dementia associated with hallucinations. Chen also hallucinates as he cries at night feels that he is back in Hong Kong or tells daughter that someone has poisoned the garden soil. Thus the prime care needs assistance in daily living activity in order to promote independence and mobility needs through physical activity. According to Clarkson et al (2018), older adults who are suffering from dementia, a neurodegenerative disorder are prone to accidental fall. Thus, safety is also an important concern. Assistance in physical activity will help to manage the escalating weight of Martian and at the same time will improve the flexibility of the muscles and joints and thus reducing the chances of accidental fall. Reduction in the body mass will help to reduce blood glucose level (BGL), severity diabetes and cardiovascular problems and thereby increasing the overall health status and giving independence to lead an independent life (Gill, Bartels & Batsis, 2015).
According to Hill, Hunter, Batchelor, Cavalheri and Burton (2015), older adults who are suffering from dementia are prone to accidental falls and thus increasing the chances of getting injured. Injury related to accidental fall leads to pain and at the same time hampers the independence to conduct the daily living activities. The systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by Giné-Garriga, Roqué-Fíguls, Coll-Planas, Sitja-Rabert & Salvà (2014) highlighted that regular practice of mild to moderate physical activity helps to reduce the chances of accidental fall among the frail older people. Individualised home based physical activities can helps in the improving mobility, balance and muscle strength and thus helping to improve the physical independence (Burton et al., 2015). Blondell, Hammersley-Mather and Veerman (2014) highlighted in their longitudinal study that physical activity in dementia helps to reduce the cognitive decline of the older adults. The reduction in the cognitive decline in Martin will help to improve his level of independence in conducting daily living activities.
The case study highlights that Martin hails from a Buddhist family. He thinks that visiting temple will provide much needed time and relaxation. However, for visiting the temple, he needs to reply on his children. Regular visit to the Buddhist temple in Adelaide will help to improve his mental well-being and at the same time will help to work on his aggressive behaviour. Ennis and Kazer (2013) stated that spiritual nursing interventions helps to improve the mental and the physical well-being of the older adults with dementia. Martin also loves to do vegetable garden thus assistance in conducting gardening activities will help to improve his self-confidence and mental well-being and can be identified one priority of care. The last care needs will be weekly monitoring of the BGL, blood pressure and blood cholesterol. Gonzalez and Kirkevold (2014) stated that sensory gardening and horticultural activities in the dementia care help to improve the well-being while reducing the disruptive behaviour.
Thus overall it can be said that main care need of Martin is restorative care through home-based services. Cochrane et al. (2016) stated that restorative care for the older adults helps to reduce the functional decline while improving the independence.
Identification of the resources
The main resource that will be helpful in order to support the comprehensive care need include a home care package in order to continue living at home. Part of Silver Chain Group (2019) in Adelaide provides personalised packages for the older adults in order to lead a healthy life. The main support that Martin needs include allied health and therapy services like fall prevention (by personal support and by the use of walking aids and installation of grab rails), restorative services and physiotherapy for planning of the mild to moderate physical exercise. Providing manual assistance to attend Buddhist temple daily or once in a week by care as per Martin’s will. Specific support for improving his memory like community based group activities. At present Martin’s condition does not demands personal care services like showering, dressing and grooming and thus can be omitted for the service.
Silva et al. (2013) highlighted that elderly people needs informal caregivers in order to maintain mental and physical well-being and at the same time lead to healthy life at home and decreasing the need of moving to aged care facility. The informal caregivers in case are the family members of Martin. The informal caregivers will be trained to provide Martin assistance to continue his hobby of vegetable gardening. However, in order to reduce the chances of the accidental fall the pavement of the pots can be raised so that Martin is not required to bend to water the plants or installation of pipes for watering of the plants. The family members of Martin will be trained regarding periodic monitoring vital signs of Marin like use of glucometer for BGL, digital sphygmomanometer to record blood pressure. For monitoring of the blood glucose level, assistance can be taken from the Australian Department of Health (Ageing and Aged Care, 2019). By giving a call to this toll free number 1800 200 422, help can be availed for the conduction of blood test. The Australian Government funded initiatives, Commonwealth Home Support Programme and also be avail in order to assist Martin to accomplish his daily living activities.
Role of registered nurse
Registered nurse plays a vital role for comprehensive service delivery to the older adults under home settings. They hold the key management role in operational planning, coordination in the care plan, delivery and monitoring of evidence-based practice and creating provision for the continuous quality improvements (Goodwin et al., 2013). The presence of the registered nurses provides clinical supervision and nursing leadership in order to facilitate the complex health needs of the older adults like Martin. For Martin, the duty of the registered nurse will be to design person-centred care plan. The person centred care plan for Martin will be designed for physical activity promotion as per the mobility quotient of his joints. This will be done by taking help from occupational therapist and physiotherapist. Toots et al. (2016) stated that high-intensity physical exercise will be helpful of older adults and at the same time will help to reduce the high BGL.
Person centred care plan for Martin will include developing of the gardening activity planning for Martin under the assistance of the occupational therapist so that it might help to improve the mental well-being of Martin while reducing the chances of the accidental fall (Wiseman & Sadlo, 2015).
The registered nurse will also educate the informal care givers or the family members of Martin about the importance of the timely intake of medication and monitoring of the vital signs of Martin in regards to his age and present status of the forgetfulness. It is the duty of the nursing professionals to engage the patient in the care plan by disease education in order to improve the therapy adherence (Kornhaber et al., 2016). For Martin education will be given in the domain of effective weight management and adherence of physical exercise to promote self-management skills and independence. Silva et al. (2013) stated that family members at time suffer from burnout and compassion fatigue. In order to overcome the same a holiday or day out is found to be effective. The duty of the registered nurse will be to help Martin daughter and his family to enjoy an outing while arranging required support at home by taking assistance from Commonwealth Home Support Programme.
Benefits of transitioning at home
Parsons et al. (2013) stated that providing restorative are while at home helps in improving the mental and the physical well-being of the older adults. While staying at home enable the older adult to stay under the known social support and informal carers and this help to improve their level of confidence and inner-strength and thereby providing benefits in the grounds of the mental health and well-being. The staying at home for Martin will also provide him the independence. Martin is from China so staying at home will help him to remain culturally safe and thus helping to remain high on self-esteem.
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion, it can be concluded that main care needs for Martin is assistance in physical activity, gardening, visiting to Buddhist template along with regular monitoring of vital signs. The Commonwealth Home Support Programme and other privately funded organisation provide a comprehensive assistance to the older adults which help them to lead to healthy life while staying at home. The duty of the registered nurse will be to assist the allied professionals in designing of the person centred care plan along with promotion of the disease education to both the patient and their family members. Sating at home for the older adults help to promote mental wellbeing and cultural safety and thereby helping to increase the physical well-being.
References
Australian Government Department of Health. (2019). Aeging and Aged Care Service. Access date: 27th March 2019. Retrieved from: https://agedcare.health.gov.au/older-people-their-families-and-carers/staying-at-home/help-to-stay-at-home
Blondell, S. J., Hammersley-Mather, R., & Veerman, J. L. (2014). Does physical activity prevent cognitive decline and dementia?: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. BMC public health, 14(1), 510. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-510
Brataas, H.V., Bjugan, H., Wille, T. & Hellzen, O., (2010). Experiences of day care and collaboration among people with mild dementia. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(19?20), pp.2839-2848. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03270.x
Burton, E., Cavalheri, V., Adams, R., Browne, C. O., Bovery-Spencer, P., Fenton, A. M., … & Hill, K. D. (2015). Effectiveness of exercise programs to reduce falls in older people with dementia living in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical interventions in aging, 10, 421. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S71691
Clarkson, P., Hughes, J., Roe, B., Giebel, C.M., Jolley, D., Poland, F., Abendstern, M., Chester, H., Challis, D., HoSt?D (Home Support in Dementia) Programme Management Group & Orrell, M., (2018). Systematic review: Effective home support in dementia care, components and impacts–Stage 2, effectiveness of home support interventions. Journal of advanced nursing, 74(3), pp.507-527. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13460
Cochrane, A., Furlong, M., McGilloway, S., Molloy, D.W., Stevenson, M. & Donnelly, M., (2016). Time?limited home?care reablement services for maintaining and improving the functional independence of older adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (10). Retrieved from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010825.pub2/abstract
Commonwealth of Australia (2012). Living longer. Living better. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing.
Ennis Jr, E.M. & Kazer, M.W., (2013). The role of spiritual nursing interventions on improved outcomes in older adults with dementia. Holistic Nursing Practice, 27(2), pp.106-113. doi: 10.1097/HNP.0b013e318280f7f9
Gill, L.E., Bartels, S.J. & Batsis, J.A., (2015). Weight management in older adults. Current obesity reports, 4(3), pp.379-388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-015-0161-z
Giné-Garriga, M., Roqué-Fíguls, M., Coll-Planas, L., Sitja-Rabert, M., & Salvà, A. (2014). Physical exercise interventions for improving performance-based measures of physical function in community-dwelling, frail older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 95(4), 753-769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2013.11.007
Gonzalez, M. T., & Kirkevold, M. (2014). Benefits of sensory garden and horticultural activities in dementia care: a modified scoping review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 23(19-20), 2698-2715. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12388
Goodwin, N., Dixon, A., Anderson, G. & Wodchis, W., (2014). Providing integrated care for older people with complex needs: lessons from seven international case studies. London: King’s Fund.
Hill, K. D., Hunter, S. W., Batchelor, F. A., Cavalheri, V., & Burton, E. (2015). Individualized home-based exercise programs for older people to reduce falls and improve physical performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Maturitas, 82(1), 72-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2015.04.005
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Parsons, J.G.M., Sheridan, N., Rouse, P., Robinson, E. & Connolly, M., (2013). A randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of a model of restorative home care on physical function and social support among older people. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 94(6), pp.1015-1022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2013.02.003
Part of Silver Chain Groups. (2019). Home Care Packages. Access date: 27th March 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.silverchain.org.au/sa/home-care/about-home-care-packages/
Silva, A.L., Teixeira, H.J., Teixeira, M.J.C. & Freitas, S., (2013). The needs of informal caregivers of elderly people living at home: an integrative review. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 27(4), pp.792-803 https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12019
Toots, A., Littbrand, H., Lindelöf, N., Wiklund, R., Holmberg, H., Nordström, P., … & Rosendahl, E. (2016). Effects of a high?intensity functional exercise program on dependence in activities of daily living and balance in older adults with dementia. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(1), 55-64. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.13880
Wiseman, T. & Sadlo, G. (2015). Gardening: An occupation for recovery and wellness. In International handbook of occupational therapy interventions (pp. 797-809). Springer, Cham.
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