Long Term Care Essay

The Department Of Health (2009) describes long-term conditions as chronic illnesses that can limit lifestyles. In

For a long period of time, hospitals have basically been established as nonprofit and for-profit facilities with several similarities and differences between these categories. Notably, these categories have minimal differences though it's difficult to predict their quality based on their structures. The healthcare field has also been characterized by several trends in the past three decades in attempts to improve the delivery of services and patient outcomes. In relation to the provision of long-term care, hospitals and nursing homes have different roles that enable them to achieve this objective. The hospital sector in the United States has experienced several changes that have contributed to its current state of long-term care policy.

These agencies expect long-term care facilities to maintain an environment that will emphasize the importance of one’s quality of life and quality of care (Walsh, 2014).

Throughout Unit 6 we reviewed the continuum of care in long-term care facilities and its many aspects. The continuum of care, also referred to as the delivery system of health care, is best defined as a full range of long-term care services increasing in level of acuity and complexity from one end to the other (PowerPoint). This delivery system is comprised of three substantial components. These components are the informal system, community based care, and the institutional system.

Long-term care is a result of people having terminal conditions, disabilities, illnesses, injuries, or being elderly. The purpose of long-term care is to provide services to people and to aid people at a time in their lives when they cannot depend on themselves to maintain daily activities. There are many variations of long-term care available – such as home care, adult day care, and independent and assisted living, personal care facilities, nursing homes, and hospice.

Long-term care facilities consist of quite a few categories of patients. Permanent residents receiving nonskilled care, permanent residents receiving special care, permanent residents receiving skilled care, short-term residents, and respite care. Permanent residents receiving nonskilled care can perform activities of daily living (bathing, eating, dressing, ext.), however under the supervision of a licensed practical nurse or registered nurse due to a cognitive or physical (Peden, 2015, p. 255). Some permanent residents are a part of a special care unit designed with an environment needed for their impairment such as quiet and homelike. Contrary to nonskilled care, other residents require skilled care services on a frequent or daily basis. Many of these patients are not expected to be discharged due to a decline or non-improvement of their condition. Patients in a long-term care facility can also be considered short-term patients. Typically these patients have a planned length of stay of less than 100 days. These patients typically receive a higher level of care with a goal of rehabilitation treatment and to transfer home or to a lower level of care (Peden, 2015, p. 356). The last type of patients found in a long term care facility are known as respite care patients. Respite care means the patient is there for a short length of time, ranging from one night to several week. This allows for relief to the

Long-term care sometimes abbreviated LTC, focuses on the providing services that promote independent living and quality of life, while still meeting an individual's medical and non-medical goals. There are many varieties of long-term care which include in-home care, assisted living facilitates, nursing homes, and retirement communities. While long-term care facilities typically offer an array of services, including meals, laundry, and housekeeping services, history has shown that greater areas of success have been achieved with these bundling of services in a smaller, more intimate facilities, such as Jefferson Park at Dandridge.

It offers post-acute services for those patients who no longer require an in-patient hospital stay but who are not ready to go home. They also give long-term, extended-stay elder care services for those individuals for whom living independently at home is no longer possible. And the assisted living centers place special emphasis on providing an atmosphere of respect and friendship where residents can get the help they want, when they need it.

Many older adults are living with complex comorbidities and rely on a various health services for their care needs. This is especially true for the elderly with chronic illnesses and functional disabilities, such as those living in long-term care facilities. The term “long-term care (LTC) facilities” is a loose term, often used interchangeably with residential homes, care homes, and nursing homes in Canada (Kaasalainen et al., 2010). LTC facilities are defined here as homes providing 24-hour supervised nursing and personal care to residents. When there is a change in residents’ health status, such as exacerbation of a chronic illness, care provided at level LTC facilities oftentimes are insufficient and hence require residents to be transferred

Long-term care is centered to the care of individuals with physical or mental health disabilities. The goal of long-term care is to assist individuals in remaining as independent as possible (Williams & Torrens, 2008). There are three concepts to understand when discussing long-term care. An individual can have one or more functional disabilities which are basic activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). ADL’s consist of toileting, grooming, feeding, and walking. IADL’s consist of money management, taking medications, housekeeping, and grocery shopping (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Another concept that could require an individual to need long-term care is chronic conditions. This means that the condition is expected to last more than three months. This could be a physical condition like congestive heart failure or a mental condition like schizophrenia. Lastly, impairment such as blindness or loss of a limb could result in the need for long-term care. Long-term care can also be necessary for a temporary situation like recovery from surgery or a major illness like pneumonia. Long-term care comes in many different delivery systems. Extended inpatient care is a common avenue for long-term care. Nursing facilities offer round the clock care for mentally or developmentally disabled individuals as well as the elderly will long-term illnesses. Home health agencies are also a common long-term care avenue.

Long-term care does not have a formal structure, but it does have a basic framework, which is called a continuum of long-term care. The care may range between care being delivered by family and friends, community resources, or through extended inpatient facility. About 80 to 90% of long-term care is provided by friends and family members. The integrated categories of this care could consists of housing, wellness, outreach, home, ambulatory, acute, or extended care. Due to the fact the services are so fragmented with no official formal structure, payers normally will not cover all levels of the coordinated

In the United States, nursing homes play vital role in delivering long term care (LTC) to people in an effective

An acute facility, as mentioned before, is a hospital that usually requires a patient to stay overnight or for a few days, depending on the situation. An acute facility also has an emergency department known as the ER. In the emergency room, patients are either admitted or after treatment, they are sent home (Gartee, 2011). The hospital is run differently than most facilities because it has a board, administration, and medical staff and so on. As for a long-term care facility, it is in the category of subacute care facilities (Gartee, 2011). These facilities are for patients with inpatient needs but less intense services and are usually needed, compared to those at a hospital. Some long-term facilities are rehabilitation centers and nursing

The key factors in the continuum of long-term care include organization of the long-term care, integration mechanism, and service categories. The organization of the long-term care is among the challenges since most of the care is given by the family members. A patient may require different services that are offered by different systems and the services may change with time (Goldberg, 2014). As per integration mechanism, different services need to be integrated, and multiple services may be needed at the same time. The services include extended outpatient care, hospital services, ambulatory care, home care, hospice and durable medical equipment. Other services include housing, wellness, and outreach (Williams & Torrens, 2008).

There many facilities throughout the United States that can assist patients with in-patient and out-patient services. The in-patient facility consists of hospitals and nursing homes that require admission for up to 24 hours. The outpatient facilities provide clinical, diagnostic testing, and therapeutic services. Clinical services typically found in physician’s office. An out-patient facility consists of an urgent care clinic, and it does not require staying in the facility. A hospital facility consists of many departments, it can service patients in an emergency situation or admit patients that need further observation and care for a short period. The hospitals can perform day or emergency surgery and also provide out-patient services for clinic visits. The nursing homes are other facilities that can assist patients with daily activities. The nursing homes mainly, for elderly or physically challenge people that needs assistance on an everyday basis for long-term care. The prompt clinics are the newest facilities that accept outpatients for treatment and services. Immediate care is convenient and costs less than the hospitals the other two facilities.