The Absence Of Long-Term Care

A.C. is a 79-year-old man living in a long-term care facility. He has had multiple medical diagnoses, including congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and stroke. He is bedridden and receiving enteral tube feedings. He has chronic diarrhea thought to be related to his tube feedings. He receives digoxin (Lanoxin) and furosemide (Lasix) to manage his CHF.

Long-term care can be defined as a broad set of paid and unpaid services for people who are mentally or physically disabled, or whose chronic illness places them in need of medical or personal assistance for long periods of time. “It is estimated that there are more than twelve million Americans of all ages whose mix of serious disability and chronic illness places them at the high risk for functional decline, hospitalization, or nursing home placement.” (Benjamin) Several different populations require long-term care services, and the needs of these populations vary. In addition to the elderly, many of the long-term care users are younger persons with physical disabilities; persons with developmental disabilities; and persons with chronic

Taking care of the individuals that are getting older takes many different needs. Most of these needs cannot be given from the help of a family. This causes the need of having to put your love one into a home and causing for the worry of how they will be treated. It is important for the family and also the soon to be client to feel at home in their new environment. This has been an issue with the care being provided for each individual, which has lead to the need of making sure individuals have their own health care plan.

Every person just wants to do what is right for their family. As a person ages, everyone gets to a point some sooner rather than later start losing the ability to take care of themselves in the capacity of their own home. If families are knowledgeable about what options are available and research what would fit their loved one best, will make the overall decision and transition to long term care

Shortage of nursing staff in the long-term care continues to rise due to a couple of reasons. Many studies have revealed several factors that play a significant role in nursing shortages over the years. These factors include health care organizations downsizing the number of staff on a unit and increasing workloads, prolong work hours, and the people leaving the workforce. These factors have a significant impact on the quality of care in the long-term setting. This paper will compare and contrast the effect of lack of staffing has on the quality of patient care in a long-term settings. Over the years, the toll of the economy has had an impacted on the healthcare system which led to the reduction in the number of nursing staff and increasing the workload.

The challenges and impact of Baby Boomers on long-term care systems are going to modify the manner in which traditional health care, patient access, financial payments and treatment are delivered. Baby Boomers will have an extensive amount of care maintenance needs involving various rehabilitation conditions, acute and chronic illnesses, which will require a significant amount of thoroughly trained gerontologists, skilled nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, community advocates, and family involvement. This article explores options sought to reduce the costs to society and Baby Boomers as innovative savings, tax credit options, and other alternative long-term care financing choices lessening the impact on the long-term care system.

Our elderly population is living longer than ever before and not all of them are entering into a nursing home. They are choosing to stay in their own home or their caregiver is choosing it for them. Some caregivers are choosing to move their ageing love one in the home with them. Whatever the case may be, there is an increased need for some type of home health as it applies to the elderly population. “Medicare will pay the full cost of professional help only if the physician

The long-term care services delivery system in the United States has changed substantially over the last 30 years . There are approximately 17,000 elderly and disabled persons are receiving care in nursing homes (NNHS, 2004). The number of people using nursing facilities, alternative residential care places, or home care services are projected to increase from 15 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2050 (HHS, 2003). Identifying the best nursing home that would fit their needs can be difficult and time-consuming. Although nursing homes usually provide certain basic care that patients need, some nursing home facilities provides special care for certain types of individuals with special needs. For example, people with dementia, AIDS, ventilator-dependents,

In many circumstances, people may move out of long-term care. Those recovering illness or injury may regain independence after they are well. Some may not every be able to live a life without long-term care again. It is noted that 40 percent of people over 65 will need two or more years of long-term care with half of those needing care for more than five years (Grote, 2011). Unfortunately, with today’s aging population, the numbers in the long-term care are most likely to keep increasing instead of transitioning people out. Of the 12 million people who need LTC, 6.6 million are age 65 or older and are likely to be Medicare beneficiaries and entitled to the LTC coverage that Medicare provides (Barton, 2006). That said, not everyone who

Imagine that you are a patient in an hospital in Ontario - you have undergone acute care and are now ready to enter a Long-term care (LTC) facility for additional care. Now imagine that you have entered a complex maze, like the Waterloo County County Corn Maze, only much trickier. Why?

Long-term care has and is continuing to become an important part of the continuum of care. Years ago Long-term care (LTC) was considered only to be for the elderly, but as time passes it is for anybody and everybody who needs it. Barton (2006) stated, “Regardless of the length of time (i.e., from weeks to years), long-term care is an array of services provided in a range of settings to individuals who have lost some capacity for independence due to injury, chronic illness, or condition” (p. 367). According to Barton (2006), it states that the services long-term care provides help the consumer with basic needs and shows the individuals how to do daily living activities, along with therapy and being able to

Another important aspect is long-term care in the Unites States. Some long-term care facilities in the United States are considered either private or state owned. The state-owned facilities need to improve the quality of care. Due to people living longer have put a large demand on long-term facilities. A lot of state owned facilities are unstaffed and over pullulated. Americans should have access to universal healthcare coverage and log-term coverage care from a quality long-term facility.

Acute care and long-term care are both continuum care, but there are many differences between these types of facilities. When people are severely injured or ill, they seek treatment at an acute care facility. “Acute care is medical care designed to treat and/or cure an acute condition, for example, a heart attack or stroke” (http://eldercarehelper.com, 2016). Acute care facilities usually release patients before the 30th day and treatment is provided by a physician. In long-term is provide for patients that need continuum care, but less intensive treatment. “Long-term care facilities offer medical care to patients who need…less intensive level then that provided at an acute care facilities” (Gartee, 2011). The patients usually stay longer

The continuum of institutional long-term care is for patients whose needs are not adequately met in a more community-based setting. It is for individuals who need more dependency. There are two ends of the continuum of institutional long-term care spectrum. On the one end there are the individuals that may only need basic personal or custodial care (Shi & Singh, 2015, p. 399). An example of personal and custodial care can include help with walking, bladder training, or just helping with bathing. On the other end there are the individuals that may need more round the clock care with nursing or specialized services along with the basic needs (Shi & Singh, 2015, p. 399).

Before there was any type of reform, legislation those that were running these Long-Term Services were abusing and neglecting the patients they were be paid to take care of, in light of quality of life. They were giving them medications that were keep them in deep trances were they didn’t have to care for them, but could keep them in a trance like state for hours and even days at times. “Although Nursing Home Care in general has improved, problems persist in areas relevant to end-of-life care, including pressure sore, malnutrition, dehydration, pain and quality of life.” (Sarah Thompson, 2008 ) These were all serious issues that needed to be addressed and major improvements starting happening within Long-Term