Factors Affecting Care in the Long Term Care Setting

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Factors Affecting Care in the Long Term Care Setting Care in a long term setting can be affected by many factors. First and foremost is the adjustment to the placement by both the new resident and their family. Placement in a long-term care facility is a difficult decision. For the family, this decision often creates feelings of failure, fear, and sadness. The failure comes from their inability to care for their family member in a home setting. The fear is a result of multiple factors; poor publicity for nursing homes, financial concerns, and even fear of the unknown. Feelings of sadness obviously are related to the general issue of long-term care being an end-of-life placement. The new resident is often faced with a myriad of emotions as a result of the placement; resentment, depression, anger, confusion, feelings of worthlessness, and fear are a few examples. The resident may even attempt manipulative behavior to convince family that placement isn’t safe or to instill so much guilt that the family will take them home. One common issue for both the resident and their family is the change in roles that take place. A switch in power occurs. Roles are reversed and now the child is acting in the parental role, the one who makes the decisions and has the authority. For the resident, they are faced with the loss of the roles they played in the workplace and in the community. Families provide more care than institutional settings. The government reports that “In a national survey conducted in 2000, more than a quarter of adult Americans reported that they had provided care for disabled family members during the past year; that translates into more than 50 million volunteer caregivers. The Federal Administration on Aging estimated that over 22 million Americans are providing such care at any one time” (The President’s Council on Bioethics, 2005).

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