“The secret that all old people share is that you really haven’t changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes but you don’t change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion.” (Lessing, 1992). Growing old was never something I had given much thought to as a young, healthy adult with the inevitable “invincible” attitude of youth. Completing my most recent practice education placement in a residential care setting for the elderly opened my eyes to the realities of life; that we do grow old, we do slow down, our hair turns grey, our skin wrinkles and our bodies begin to fail. Yet every older person I had the honour of working with showed me that they were still them on the inside. Even those experiencing the most advanced stages of dementing diseases such as Alzheimer’s showed their own personalities and preferences in their own ways yet this wasn’t always taken into account by health professionals involved in their care. It made me wonder, are we depriving the older people in our care of their freedom of choice? Is it for the sake of making a job easier that decisions around what clothes to wear or food to eat are made on behalf of the older person? The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN General Assembly, 1948) states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” yet the actions taken and decisions made with regard to the care and lifestyle of clients I encountered caused me to question were the rights and dignity of these people being jeopardised? It is for this reason that this paper has a focus on the older person’s right to privacy and dignity in residential care. Policy being analysed For the purposes of this paper, residential care policy for older ... ... middle of paper ... ... residents who’s families could afford their care. There were some beds however that were allocated to the Fair Deal Scheme. The residents on my caseload who availed of these rooms were experiencing dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Due to the nature of these conditions, monetary matters and the process of application to the Fair Deal scheme were carried out in collaboration with family members, usually a son or daughter. As dementing illnesses cause memory loss and cognitive decline, discussion of subjective experience of the Fair Deal Scheme with these particular residents wasn’t appropriate. I did, however, get the opportunity to discuss the issue with one lady’s daughter when she sat in on a therapy session with her mother. After the session, I approached this woman and asked her if it would be alright to discuss the impact of the scheme on her mother’s care.
This ethical scenario presents an 86 year old female with numerous health issues and chronic illnesses. Mrs. Boswell’s advancing Alzheimer’s disease makes it extremely difficult to initiate dialysis, leading her physician to conclude a poor quality of life. The ethical dilemma portrayed in this case is between non-maleficence and autonomy. Health care workers should focus on promoting the patient’s overall wellbeing and weigh the benefits and risks of the course of action, while also considering what the family declares they want done. Since the patient is deemed unable to make decisions, the goal is to collaborate with family, assess patient quality of life, address prognosis, and establish realistic care goals.
This assignment will identify and evaluate the legal and ethical issues within the health and social care for elderly people with dementia and living in residential homes. It will address the difference between the legal and ethical issues and the impact it has on the person suffering from the disease, their family and the role that the professionals have in decision making for the individual’s wellbeing.
Long ago, in a far flung corner of the world, laid a colossal kingdom, ruled by one of the most powerful and wise kings and queens of that era, the kings and queens were esteemed by everyone, even the richest people honored them because of their dignity and honesty they were admired by every ruler of that era. They had a daughter, Alicia and a son, Peter who loved their parents, but those children were extremely ignorant and rude towards their grandparents.
Dementia patients must have the right to participate in all decisions concerning their care. Every person in this world has the same equal rights, no matter the situation. Doctors, caregivers, nurses, and even family members brush off the request of the person suffering from dementia each and every day. Most people call this carelessness while others call it freedom and in all reality, it is far from freedom. Luckily, there are many people who fight for the freedom everyone deserves. The majority of "Health professionals are usually keen to keep people with dementia at the center of decisions. Independent advocacy can support this by giving the extra time and skills needed to help people have a voice without the tensions of any other role"
In this essay I will research and provide a timeline of developments to human rights, i will explain the underlying principles of the human rights approach and the importance of adopting human rights to care. After the Second World War ended in the mid 1940’s there became a serious realisation to the importance of human rights. This realisation got the United Nations to establish the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This Declaration shows the first ever international agreement on the primary principles of human rights. There is a total of thirty basic human rights within the Universal Declaration and these rights apply to every single person in the world. An example of one of the rights everyone has is ‘the
Upon growing older there are many decisions to be made. Among one of the most difficult and perhaps most important decisions is where the elder person will live and how long-term care needs will be met when he/she is no longer capable of doing so independently due to the incapacity that accompanies many with old age. Nursing homes seem to be the popular choice for people no matter the race, gender, or socioeconomic status with 1.5 million Americans being admitted to them yearly.[3] Because nursing homes are in such a high demand and are not cheap, $77.9 billion was spent for nursing home care in the United States in 2010 alone, they are under criticism of many professions including the legal profession, which is in the process of establishing elder law as a defense to issues with in the elder community. Nursing homes have a duty to provide many things to the elderly including medical, social, pharmaceutical, and dietary services so that the individual may maintain the highest well-being possible.[4] Stated another way 'a nursing facility must care for its residents in such a manner and in such an environment as will promote maintenance or enhancement of the q...
Attitudes are the foundation of quality of care for older adults. Among health care professionals, discrimination and stereotypical behaviors are very prevalent, even though more often than not these individuals do not realize their actions are ageist. “Ageism hinders people from seeing the potential of aging, anticipation their own aging, and being responsive to the needs of older people” (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). Attitudes are directly correlated with how individuals age and whether individuals stay health and live longer (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). The care that older adults receive from healthcare professionals is directly influenced by that provider’s attitude about growing older. All too often, health care providers rely on a patient’s chronological age rather than their functional age when determining their needs and what interventions are prescribed. Another issue lies in providers viewing the complaints of older patients as a part of “normal aging”, therefore potentially missing life-threatening problems that may have been easily resolved. “Age is only appropriate in health treatment as a secondary factor in making medical decisions, and it should not be used as a stand-alone factor” (Nolan, 2011, p. 334).
There are changes in the demographic as the population grows older, the number of older adult’s increases and thus, there is an increase of proportion of patients that are older adults for nurses to take care of (Wells, Y., Foreman, P., Gething, L., & Petralia, W., 2004). The nurses are there to assist and support the older adults in achieving wellness within their situation through empowering the clients (Touhy, et al (2012). Caring for older adults is important as there is an increase in population with deteriorating health. When caring for a client it is important to incorporate Jean Watson’s caring theories and Carative Factors to help influence and support the care. She encourages nurses to co-participate within the caring process by establishing unity and trust between the nurse and client. First, this paper will explain a situation in where I cared for an older adult and it will then introduce Jean Watson’s lower order needs, specifically the need for activity and how it relates to the older adult I cared for. Lastly, this paper will explain the nursing interventions I implemented to meet the lower order need, with a discussion of Carative Factor #4 relating to the client.
According to DeBrew, author of “Can being ageist harm your older adult patients?” stereotypes and discrimination are evident in various aspects of patient care. “Ageism [is] defined as stereotyping or discrimination aimed at older adults and a lack of knowledge about normal changes of aging and presentation of illness in older adults (. . .)” (DeBrew, 2015). DeBrew (2015) states, “research findings suggest that ageism is common in healthcare” (DeBrew, 2015). Ageism is not only an issue in the healthcare setting, but also among older adults as well as their families. When ageism is present in the healthcare setting it poses
Sturdy, D. (2007) Indignity in care: are you responsible? Nurs Older People. 2007; 19(9): 9.
In the Philippines, the ages to be considered a senior citizen are those who are aged 60 years old and over. The senior citizens made up 6.8 percent of the 92.1 million household populations in 2010, higher than the 6.0 percent recorded in 2000 and the number reached over six million in 2011 and it is seen to double in 16 years. The number of people 60 years old and above, or those considered as senior citizens, has increased, as the country's household population increases. With the growing number of senior citizens, there is a generalized notion associated with senior citizens such as degeneration and decline of health and well being but on the contrary, most of them are still active and productive, performing significant roles at home and
As a person ages, there are many changes which occur to them. These changes can be negative or positive in their lives. The best thing that we can do for the person is, to be positive and assist them adjust to these
During young adulthood, range from 18- 40 years old, life is quite busy since people are always on the run. It is easy to say that many people do not think what they eat before they eat. Perhaps, it is because of the busy life during young adulthood that has a huge impact in our diet which can be detrimental to our health. In addition, many people have to go to work and school and they end up having little or no time to eat. In this case, they run to the closest fast food place and order something that is not very healthy. According to Fryer and Ervin (2013), “During 2007–2010, adults consumed, on average, 11.3% of their total daily calories from fast food.” Young adulthood is the phase in life that many people consume low nutrient food which
Some people belief that when they are old, their cognition will decrease, especially in decision-making and learning new things. On the contrary, older people have a wise brain and perfect skill because different skill of Cognition which is the process of knowing and understanding (longman dictionary) will peak at different time, some is soon while some take a longer time. Besides as people are ageing they have more experience as well as more knowledge to increase their ability to learn, that why we have a sayings like” the older, the wiser”. Furthermore, our brain is working as the same as our skin or body if only they take care of their brain in the right way they can keep their brains sharp for a certain extra time.On the other hand, people
Old age homes which are designed to give shelter and provide a place to live, for those old ones’ whom no one has to care about but today people are making it as their tradition where the people leave their parents in an old age home, where the two generations never stay under one roof and from them, one has to bow down for leaving that family and those are always older aged parents. Where more and more people are thinking about and many are opting to put their aged parents in old age homes. Where the presence of old age parents at home becomes too much of a trouble and there is no room for them as they need constant need of care. Where it becomes impossible to bring friends at home because their parents can be a source of embarrassment for children, it is becoming a shameful thing to introduce their parents to their friends. So, for avoiding these kinds of embarrassment and shameful things the old aged parents are being hit by this drastic detachment from their children at the age when they need a lot of care, when they start losing their memories. They might have grown old by outside but from inside they become those little kids who could never grow up again. ”People say old age is the recoiling of childhood” and it is true that old aged people need attention correspondingly as a young child.