CARING FOR AN AILING ELDERLY
A study conducted by Kotlikoff and Morris showed that elderly persons mostly rely on the care that a family member, especially children and even elderly spouses, can give them on their old age. Another study concluded that elderly males are less competent to tend to their ailing spouses because they were usually not expected to provide nurture since their early years. Besides, the focus of interest for males is different from females. Males tend to be more objective and factual rather than emotional or sympathetic. Research also shows that the male elderly who possesses his home has a lower tendency to move to a formal nursing care. However, these are all dependent on the financial funding, caring for oneself, and/or degree of fondness the elderly places on his residence.
As one ages, one dreads the decline of the physical and mental health of the body. Along with this fear is the possible apprehension caused by a lower income bracket. Some fight the effects of old age, others wisely accept growing old thus aging gracefully. Yet, some refuses to acknowledge growing old making it hard for them to adjust emotionally and socially.
To provide maximum care to fragile senior citizens, caregivers should know the patients’ cognitive functions, his or her illnesses, and the importance of a multidisciplinary method in caring for the individual.
The United States’ John A. Hartford Foundation in 1999 financed medical schools with the aim of focusing on care for geriatric patients. Its goal is to provide knowledge on the care of elderly patients and the process of ageing. This includes the establishment of an understanding on the lifestyle, social concerns, and diseases in caring for elder people; familiarization with the physical changes, including normal and irregular changes, that take place during aging; providing updates on the systems and methods of health care; instilling the importance of a multidisciplinary approach; and furthering knowledge on issues of ethics that pertain to care of geriatric patients.
Based on the Journal of Advanced Nursing, patient’s choice and a feeling of individuality are among the things older people need to have a decent and respectable pleasant life. Another research conducted by the National University of Ireland noted that the influences that promote good living are the care provided in their homes, identity of self, how they are connected to their families and their communities, and the pursuit and rehabilitation programs they participated in.
Caregivers, medical practitioners and law makers have to consider these issues to provide their senior citizens with a good life.
Elderly patients who will move to a formal nursing home will be more accepting and happier if he or she is consulted about the issue, and has been given a choice. The elderly will be most likely joining activities and making social connections in the nursing home to make his or her stay in the nursing home happy and fruitful. Elderly people who were not given the choice or were not included in the decision making will tend to harbor resentment most especially against their family members, will tend to remove themselves from social interactions and activities, thereby making themselves lonely, sad, and pining to get back home.
Most of the above studies conducted involve male respondents with an age range of 75 to 84 years and under home care up to four years.
Dr. Adeline Cooney, a member of the School of Nursing and Midwifery of the National University of Ireland, stated that “[i]providing a holistic, person-centered approach that goes beyond satisfying the technical and procedural aspects of care” is very important to the treatment and care of a geriatric individual. According to her, the staff should consider the quality and condition of a patient’s life as an essential part in a resident’s care. Likewise, family members and friends should provide important data on the way services are organized and carried out.
The physical, mental and emotional requirements of an elderly must be taken into consideration when caring for the elderly. This is otherwise known as the holistic approach.
[i] Esciencenews.com
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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