Resident Rights in Long Term Care Facilities GEN/200 August 22nd, 2011 Resident Rights in Long Term Care Facilities A number of people in society feel that as people begin to age that they need to be placed into a long term care facility. While some caregivers believe that residents should have limited rights, resident rights are a necessity in a long term care setting and incorporate values and ethics. Resident rights provide privacy and confidentiality for the resident they promote quality of life and set standard rules for a caregiver to follow. In a professional setting such as a long term care facility, professional values and ethics are an absolute necessity. Sometimes the definition of values and ethics is unclear. …show more content…
It is very important that Certified Nurses and Certified Nurse Assistants are following the resident rights and the company’s professional values and ethics so that they are able to work as well as possible from day to day without compromising themselves, other residents, or the facility that they work within. Over attachment is one problem that is very important to stay away from. When a caregiver gets overly attached to a specific patient, he or she can as a result end up hurting their career, the resident they are working with as well as others, and the facility that they work in. It is important that caregivers are seen as the professional in the patient-caregiver relationship and are meant to keep only a therapeutic relationship with the patient (Professional Boundaries, 2008). There are also professional boundaries that are not meant to be crossed in a caregiver-patient setting. Professional boundaries are the spaces between the nurse’s power and the client’s vulnerability. A few are points such as; sharing personal information, emotional reactions, gifts and favors, and tone of voice (Professional Guidelines for Caregivers). The way that the caregiver handles these situations also shows how well they can work with the guidelines set forth for them. This could end up being a step in the right direction for their career as well. Professional values and ethics in the long term medical field are key, not only to the
The care staff face many challenges even though they know just about everything about the individual; the carers still deal with many situations. It’s of importance that families and other health professionals develop a professional working relationship with carers because the carers are the one who are more involve with the individuals and supporting them as well as knowing the individual everyday activities.
It is no secret that communication is key when providing direct patient care in a skilled nursing facility. However, there is a noticeable lapse in the communication between the care team when providing care to the individual or groups of individuals. Two main parts of any care team are the registered nurse and the certified nursing assistant, as these are the two people whom have the most direct and impactful roles with residents in a skilled facility. The Registered Nurse and the Certified Nursing Assistant play similar roles in providing patient care, but have different roles in its entirety. The role of the Registered Nurse (RN) is defined as having the competency and skill to provide direct and indirect health care to individuals, their families, and communities around them. Services are also provided designed to give out medications, to promote comfort or healing, promote healing, and to also provide the dignity of their patients and patient’s families (American College of Rheumatology, 2015).
Giving myself time to read up on nursing experiences, attending more clinical practice labs, participating and watching these duties in the health care setting will allow me to develop a secure level of confidence the next time that this type of situation may occur. Staying in the room allowed me to experience the feeling of support while looking past social norms and how they are challenged. I met my personal values, and I believe that one should respect another person`s privacy. This understanding allowed me to be there to support the resident during her time of need. In the article `starting out` by Jane Schulz, a nursing student shares her experience of helping her colleague assist an elderly patient with daily care. Observing the compassion and care between nurse and patient from fundamental tasks, she took away a valued lesson of how our support and caring methods affect an individual. My relation to this story allowed me to reflect on the effects my care and supporting actions had on our patient.
Professionalism is an adherence to a set of values comprising both a formally agreed-upon code of conduct and the informal expectations of colleagues, clients and society. The key values include acting in a patient's interest, responsiveness to the health needs of society, maintaining the highest standards of excellence in the practice of medicine and in the generation and dissemination of knowledge. In addition to medical knowledge and skills, medical professionals should present psychosocial and humanistic qualities such as caring, empathy, humility and compassion, as well as social responsibility and sensitivity to people's culture and beliefs. All these qualities are expected of members of highly trained professions.
Professional values are the foundation for practice; they guide interactions with client, colleagues, other professionals, and the public, by providing the framework for commitment to the Welfare of others. They are also belief or ideas to which an individual is committed and which are reflected in patterns of behavior. Institute of medicine (2000). In this article, I will define Altruism, Autonomy, Human Dignity, Integrity, and Social Justice. I will also identify how these values are demonstrated in our every day lives by other nurses and myself. According to Dougherty (1992) “Altruism is a concern
A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).
They were reluctant to raise concerns about the level of care because they do not know what the residents' rights were and the level of care they were entitled to receive. The uncertainty of rights of the residents also arose from the variations of services offered in different facilities. For seniors and families, it is difficult to raise concerns and complaints if they do not know what the rights of the residents are and what they can expect from the residential care facilities. The families did not want raise concerns about the care they were receiving in fear that it would negatively impact the care they were currently receiving. Setting the standard for residents' rights would benefit everyone working and living in the
The patient has the right to voice grievances and suggest changes in service or staff without fear of restraint or discrimination.
Nursing surrounds the concept of patient care physically, mentally and ethically. The therapeutic relationship that is created is built on the knowledge and skills of the nurse and relies on patient and nurse trusting one another. The use of nursing skills can ensure these boundaries are maintained, it allows for safe patient care. Professional boundaries are the line that nurses cannot cross, involving aspects such as patient confidentiality and privacy, ensuring legal aspects of nursing and the boundaries put in place are not breached. However, nurses accepting financial or personal gain from patient can also cross these professional boundaries. It is only through education in this area that the rights of patients can be preserved, as
Healthcare professionals will be faced with ethical dilemmas throughout their career, particularly in the hospital environment. Having an education regarding professional healthcare ethics will provide some direction in how to best address these dilemmas at a time when either the patient or their family is in need of making decisions for themselves or their family member. It can be difficult for healthcare professionals to weigh professional protocol against their own personal beliefs and ethical understandings when determining critical care for their patient.
Ethics are rules of conduct and moral principles of an individual which have various origins such as family, culture, and social environment. Given the diversity of people in the healthcare profession and the importance of providing care that is ethically sound
This essay discusses public expectations of nurses, nurse-patient relationships and how to set their guidelines through professional behavior and professional boundaries, what they mean to nurses, and the connection between professional behaviour and professional boundaries.
Caregivers, and of course all heath care professionals, have a role and duty to their patient.
The Code of Ethics furnishes a definitive model of conduct. The standard of conduct is entrenched in associations, affiliations, confidentiality, and commitment with health care professionals. The Code of Ethics for healthcare quality professionals is dedicated to routine enhancement and preserving integrity by identifying individual accountability and ethical obligation to patients, medical providers, employees, health care organizations, and the community (Oddo, 2011). Ethics are not voluntary in the health care field. They are a vital and central part of medicine. Ethical codes form and assemble moral atmosphere and allotting the ethical accountability and
Professionals in every field are always confronted with some kind of ethical issues. It has however been noted that these ethical issues become high in magnitude and extent when public officials are involved. Due to the involvement of human life, an industry like healthcare holds ethics in highest regard. Even though these healthcare practitioners are highly trained to deal with issues of these kinds, their decisions can sometimes have a lasting impact on their professional and personal lives (Edwards 2009).