Caregivers Overworked Sociology

The challenge America now faces is the number of people reaching retirement will double in number by 2030, and the U.S. population will increase almost 20 percent ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). The goal is for the elderly to maintain and live with independence and dignity, as well as, provide a wide range of professional health and social service expertise, home care, and residential support and services that will be needed ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). Since the number of caregivers needed for this population will not be able to meet the demands other resolutions are considered necessary.

330). Over 36% of nursing home’s staff reported having witness abuse of their facility’s residents (Hillier & Barrow, 2011, p. 330). This abuse included employing excessive restraints; pushing, grabbing, kicking, or shoving patients; or throwing things at them (Hiller & Barrow, 2011). In reference to the situational model provided by theological explanations of elder abuse, abuse is due to the problem of caregiving; high levels of stress and burden of caregiving increase mistreatment and neglect of the frail elder (Hillier & Barrow, 2011, p. 329). This also relates to the term “caregiving distress”, which indicates the negative stresses of caretaking, including role strain, subjective burden, depression, anxiety, hostility, and other troublesome emotions. Such feeling may cloud one’s judgement or unconsciously misdirect their actions (Hillier & Barrow, 2011, p. 307). I am not making an excuse for their unethical behavior but at the end of the day these workers are just people with feeling who have different ways of showing them, whether it be through good or bad actions. Instead of having employees working in such conditions, Emeritus should provide a better working environment by increasing the staff to patient ratio and relieving the stress of caretaking of a high number of

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

Is it worth putting your loved ones in a nursing home facility? According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Each year, hundreds of thousands of adults over the age of 60 are abused, neglected, or financially exploited.” Family members of an elderly person might assume that because they are paying such a large amount of money for assistance and a room in the facility, that they’re getting the best treatment and care for their relative. Although one might believe their loved ones would be better off in a nursing home, they might be putting them at a greater risk of abuse due to understaffing, lack of training within the staff, neglect, nurse burnout, and low wages. 2,150,000 cases

According to Kim, Chang, Rose, & Kim (2011), care-giver burden has been defined as a multidimensional response to the negative appraisal and perceived stress resulting from the taking care of an ill individual (p. 846). More easily stated a care-giver is a person who assists another individual with one or more of their daily activities of living. A person who finds it necessary to care for a loved one suffering from dementia often finds the task daunting if not polarizing. The role of caregiver often times has a negative effect on the caregiver. These can include feelings of depression, isolation, fear and anger as well as the feelings of constant responsibility and social isolation (Kim et al., 2011).

Many caregivers are elderly themselves, and the heavy physical and mental toll of caregiving can compromise their own health, resulting in two elderly persons needing assistance. Several years ago, Mr. and Mrs. C, another couple in their late 80’s, moved to a Senior Living Community offering different levels of care including Independent Living, Assisted Living, and a Dementia Care Unit. They were in an Independent Living apartment and on a waiting list for an Assisted Living apartment to become available. Although they have adult children close by, Theresa was the primary caregiver for her husband who has

Caregiving is a responsibility best managed with plenty of help. Being a caregiver is very hard and tough work. It is very important that caregivers are taking care of just like their patients. Many caregivers give everything they have and do not rest when they really should take time to breathe and have time for themselves. That is why there are many organizations for caregivers and their patients. These organizations are made for the caregivers to teach them to be the best that they can be at their job and also making sure that their mental state is doing well.

In response to the poor conditions under which home care workers in the United States work, Claire L. Stacey, the author of this article published on The Conversation, calls of attention to all American citizen to reconsider the importance of home care work for elderly or disabled individuals and the way we value this job. She builds an effective and cogent argument based on statistics, claims to legislation and use of rhetorical questions. Claire L. starts the article off by mentioning the estimate number of home care works in the United States- “There are two million home care workers in the U.S.”. This was made with the point of imply to readers the number of people working in homes.

As patient advocates, professional nurses realize the importance of being active in the political arena, regarding health policy to improve the overall health of society (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). A nurse can work individually or as a part of a nursing organization, such as the American Nurses Association, to have a positive impact on health care policy (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legislative process, analyze nurse-to-patient ratios, and provide my opinion on this workplace issue.

Meta Description: Nurse burnout doesn’t occur nearly as often for nurses working in home health care as it does for those working in high-stress environments in facilities.

In a profession where others' health and well-being are priority, there leaves room for neglect of those who are delegated to care for these people. As a professional nurse, there are many obstacles that arise and affect the care provided to a patient, as well as the livelihood of the nurse. The current deteriorating and unsafe staffing conditions in hospitals and other institutions prompts workplace advocacy as the universally appropriate concept for maintaining professional nursing practice. The Arkansas Nurses Association and the Louisiana State Nurses Association define workplace advocacy as a planned, organized system of services and resources designed to support the professional nurse in the workplace (White Paper on

Nursing is an age-honored tradition and plays one of the most important roles in the healthcare environment. Nurses are essential to patient safety and play a key element in patient advocacy. Unfortunately, a changing economy and declining finances have created a shortage of nurses in the United States (US). Legislature allows citizens of the US to affect change in order to adequately meet the needs of its people. Therefore, it has become necessary to create a bill that speaks to the nursing shortage in the US. The National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act (§ 864, 2015-2016) addresses the current shortage of nurses in the United States. Within the bill are specifics in regards to acceptable nurse-patient ratios, the role of nurses as patient advocates, and mandates regarding job security and licensure

Caregivers have so many things to manage. They have to feed, bathe, love and care for another person. Before long, this stress can take a mental and physical toll. You may feel depressed or tired. Many

Caregivers are individuals who work in the home and help persons who are sick or disabled etc. with their daily activities. Caregivers do need more training and assistance because many of them are still not informed, performing and behaving the way they should be. The training and assistance I would recommend, is for caregivers to practice more on how to deal with clients, to be patient, compassionate, sensitive with them and know more on how to work with clients that has certain illness etc. Caregivers need more training also on their time management, stamina for when they might need to lift clients into the bathtub etc., how to deal when a close client has died and how to help the family also. They would need assistance from healthcare professionals

The older adult population in the United States has steadily increased thanks to technology and medical advances. While this definitely is an undeniable achievement, it also creates some challenges that society was not as prevalent to face before. Now that people are living longer it’s also means that often times family members are becoming caregivers to their loved ones during their so called golden years. Not only may it be difficult to care for a loved one, but it also becomes even more burdensome when their loved has a disability. In fact “dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide.” (2016). Fortunately there are adult day centers that serve people with dementia and provide services that can benefit them. However many times caregivers are forgotten about and aren’t provided services that can also benefit them as well. While it does take a bit of pressure off of the caregivers while their loved ones are at the day center, it does not eliminate all the other effects. Many people may not be aware that there are detrimental effects that a caregiver may experience as a result of caring for someone with dementia.