Tuesday's With Morrie

Working with the elderly population can be one of the most rewarding and challenging opportunities in a nurses professional career (Tabloski, 2014). These encounters with this population can provide nurses with the opportunity to gain wisdom and insight throughout their lives making these relationships one of a kind. The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the initial reaction that I had to the story Tuesday’s with Morrie by Mitch Albom and how it made me feel. I will then explore what touch and intimacy can offer to aging individuals and how nurses can enhance touch for the elderly. Furthermore, it is said that some individuals see the essence of aging as a spiritual journey. Therefore, the interventions that nurses can take to

The use of touch has been a hallmark of nursing care throughout history (Bulette Coakley, Barron, & Donahue Annese, 2016). Therapeutic touch, in particular, is a technique taught heavily in nursing programs across the country. It is known that the use of therapeutic touch reduces anxiety and stress, while improving comfort and well being in the individual receiving it (Bulette Coakley, Barron, & Donahue Annese, 2016). Not only does touch reduce anxiety and stress, but it also conveys a sense of trust and decreasing isolation and vulnerability of this population. When thinking about the elderly population, I believe that they suffer from touch deprivation. Regardless of it is because the loss of a spouse, isolation, or due to a specific illness, this population is placed at a high risk for being deprived of touch. There are many contributing factors that our society contributes both positively and negatively. In today’s society, there are many fears and risks from providing therapeutic touch and intimacy. Some cultures do not allow individuals to participate in this form of nonverbal communication. Although there are fears associated with touch, there remains individuals, like Morrie, who do not suffer from touch deprivation. His family was by his side helping him to all of the activities that he could no longer do on his own. A major contributing factor that would increase the number of these

Therefore, with this being said, we can help the aging adult along this pathway by reminiscing with each one of them. Through the use of reminiscence, individuals are able to recall and talk about the life that they know. Research has found that reminiscence therapy increases socialization, self-esteem, and life satisfaction while preventing social isolation and depression in the elderly population (Gallagher & Carey, 2012). Morrie makes a powerful statement saying that we should be “fully present” when caring for individuals in the hospital. This means that we need to focus on the individuals that we are taking to in order to be fully committed to the conversation. Health care professions need to be present in the moment to ensure that the proper time and interventions are catering to the patient’s health wants and needs. Moreover, I also believe that an elderly person can find a meaning to their life through health care professionals, just as we can find meaning to our lives through their