Senior Loneliness

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).

It can be very frustrating at times dealing with the family members of the older patient that I see in the emergency room. I have such limited time to take care of everyone’s needs before the next patient comes in by ambulance that I often forget how the family feels seeing their parent on an emergency room cart in pain and confused. My definition of the comfort I can provide in the emergency room are often very different from the family’s expectations. According to Gerontological Nursing (Tabloski, 2014), the attending nurse needs to understand the patient and family’s goals, wishes and values to attend to their

Developed by Dr. William Thomas in 1992, the Eden Alternative aims to decrease older adults loneliness, helplessness, and boredom (Tavormina, 1999). Since it originated, many facilities intended on improving the quality of life for older adults and have therefore adopted key elements of the model. The Eden Alternative focuses on improving the quality of life of nursing home residents and creating a homelike setting by enabling the older adults to interact with pets, plants, and children by empowering staff to bring about these changes (Coleman, et al., 2002). The benefits of implementing such a model include decreases in behavioral incidents and use of restraints, as well as in staff absenteeism and turnover. A series of behavioral studies conducted before and after Eden implementation at Providence Mount St. Vincent, a large senior-living care facility in Seattle, also found increases in older adults satisfaction and activity engagement (Boyd, 2003; Thomas, 2003). Qualitative interviews conducted at two other facilities in the United States revealed older adults’ beliefs that their lives had improved, and that the goals of alleviating their loneliness, helplessness, and boredom had been achieved (Kruschke, 2006; Parsons, 2004). It is important to understand older adults thoughts, but also important to gain an insight on the clinical aspect as

Patients, in any healthcare setting, deserve respect and care that is centered on their unique needs. Nurses and health care are required to assist them to achieve this goal. Changing the health care system will require us to reestablish our

The issue of elder abuse is clearly an ethical concern. As a caregiver, the nurse has the responsibility to ensure that the environment of the patient is safe and supportive of health and wellness. In the case of an elderly patient who is too frail to engage in effective self-care, the demands upon the nurse increase as the nurse must

My philosophy of nursing is to be an advocate for patients and care and treat each patient holistically and always provide a safe environment while providing patient care. As nurses, we must remember that patients are not and should never be addressed by their room number or medical conditions. Each patient is required and deserves individualized attention and care. As nurses, we should implement individualize clinical judgment to help meet the needs of the patient according to their condition. As nurses, we should enable patients by urging them to end up plainly dynamic accomplices in their own care and take part in shared objective setting amongst ourselves and the patient. Medical professionals are entitled to keep up patient secrecy with the exception of when we have an obligation to report as ordered by law. We should teach patients and their families on illnesses, medicines, and sound practices with a specific end goal to enhance their results.

I am highly aware of the fact that Adult nursing is a demanding profession that requires much more dedication and commitment than just a deep rooted aspiration to care for people if they were to succeed in carrying out their duties professionally and competently. Although, driven by a desire to help those with medical conditions is undoubtedly one of my defining attributes. Being very close to my uncle from a young age, I spent hours sitting at a hospital bedside with my mother to see him battling a long term illness. During this period, I watched the Nurses who cared and supported him intensively which grew my admiration towards their role. In addition, my responsive compassionate nature was reinforced more from a young age when I took the

Later adulthood is the time in life when changes in marriage, families, and peer relationships are affected the most by the loss of someone close to that person. “Most people 70 years of age or older are widowed, divorced, or single” (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010, p.619). Losing a spouse or close friend can create a sense of loneliness, which causes depression, anxiety and the emptiness feeling can become overwhelming. Depression also leads to psychological effects that will deteriorate a person’s health causing the chance for a terminal disease to become much higher. The weaker appearance of older adults causes family and remaining peers to step up in the role of making sure the person’s wellbeing is being met. (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010). Living accommodations and healthcare needs

“Family-centered care” is a term heard often in healthcare settings and in nursing practice. Family-centered care has been recognized as being an integral part to patient health, satisfaction and health care quality (Kuo, et al, 2012). Family-centered care is implemented with the goal to increase partnerships between, families, patients and providers; and has been prioritized as a core-concept of quality healthcare (Gallo, Hill, Hoagwood & Olin, 2016) Many professionals, however, would be hard-pressed to state what the term “family-centered care” actually means and how it applies to nursing practice. They would be at a loss for how to implement family-centered care and what is absolutely necessary to have in order for family-centered care to be successful. Advanced practice nurses are faced with the challenge of adhering to family-centered care in their practice. Illness, both chronic and acute, and health does not just affect the patient involved in care. Illness and health affect the patient, their children, their spouses, their parents, their brothers, their sisters, their grandparents and anyone else involved in their life. Research by Davidson (2009) supports the idea that the perceived effectiveness of communication between healthcare providers and the patient’s family is related to the overall satisfaction of care. Advance

The elderly that are more at risk of isolation include those who reside in urban areas (Dwyer and Hardill 2011), as urban life damages kinship bonds and personal relationships (Simmel 1903). Around half of the elderly over 80 years old report frequent isolation (Dykstra 2009), so prefer to spend more time in the private sphere, notably the home (AARP 1996) as it possesses memories and nostalgia (Gregory et al. 2009 p.340) thus

Each person comes from a different backgrounds, cultures, and has had many different experiences. Every person has the right to make decisions about their lives and healthcare. Each person deserves to be respected and has worth to society. When treating patients the nurse must realize that the person has three components body, mind, and spirit. All three components must be a part of care because if only some of the components are treated the patient will not fully heal.

This video grounded me once more by sweeping me back to the days that I was an eager novice nursing student with fresh eyes, ready to take care of every aspect of the needs of my older patients. During the beginning of my nursing career, I ensured I had enough time to explore the depths of my patients emotional, cultural, religious, and social background. Nowadays with the lack of time and the demand to spend more time charting electronically, I am forced to cut my personal interaction time with my patients. This is detrimental to the elderly as he or she will need additional time due to the aging process. In the video, this poor old woman must feel frustrated being trapped in her old body, although proud of her past. Through her journey in life, she has experienced good times and bad, learning through it all. Near the end, she has succumbed to the sentence of being mortal. Reminiscing about her life over the years brings forth her dignity as she is feeling judged by her caretakers. Her view has provided me a glimpse into what my future may hold as an elderly woman. As a result, I will be changing my practice by being more patient with my older patients when passing medications, turning and repositioning, ambulating, and assisting with activities of daily

Patients who feel comfortable cope better with their illness and have faster rates of healing then those patients who admit to being uncomfortable (Malinowski & Stamler, 2002) and as a nurse it is my intent to make sure all patients are comfortable in all aspects of well being. I will strive to center my nursing practices around a trusting and caring relationship with patients because “to establish a trusting relationship is necessary in order to see the situation from the patient’s perspective and an absolute prerequisite for acknowledging and realizing a patient’s values,” (Austgard, 2006, p.16). I treasure what is of importance to each and every patient, and even if I disagree with their beliefs and values, my moral and ethical responsibilities include treating every need of my patients and to pursue the best possible outcome.

My philosophy as a nurse revolves around compassion and respect. As a nurse, one must respect an individual no matter what race, economic status, disability, sexual orientation, or religious belief the person has (American Nurses Association [ANA], n.d.). When one is able to respect others and truly care, the healing process begins. Not only does respect and compassion involve the patient but the family members is involved as well. Family members deserve to be comforted and cared for. As a pediatric nurse, I spend a great deal of time educating and advocating for my patients and family members.

As we get older, our social connections often gets smaller, only having things or people that are extremely important to us. In this paper we will be examining the social-psychological problems; social isolation and loneliness that are faced by elderly by facilitating the response to five main discussion topics. The following discussion will facilitate the understanding of social isolation and loneliness, the risk factors, explore the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness in long term care facilities and the role of occupational therapist assistants and physiotherapist assistants have this emerging issue of social isolation.