I felt such sadness and concern for her, but I was unsure of what to do. This situation is what inspired my topic. There are many things that disturb me about how elderly people are treated. I find it incredibly appalling when I hear stories about elderly people who were brushed aside in our health care system when they needed surgery because a younger, healthier person needed to have a procedure done. My grandmother was once told by a physician that she must not want to go through the hassle of heart surgery “at her age”, as if there was little to no point in her having it done.
It can affect staffing ratios, quality of equipment and many other things we really don’t stop to think about. It affects what kind of patients we can treat and how long they can stay in the hospital. This affects nurses because we are the ones that have to explain to a patient why they are being discharged when they still have an infection and still need IV antibiotics to go home on but their insurance doesn’t cover for any homehealth agency to come and do infusions and we have to teach family with no medical experience how to do this. This can be very bothersome to some nurses and this is just one brief issue I am bringing up. Other political factors could be education and how we are in such a shortage of nursing but nursing school is so expensive and getting funding to send individuals to school and for the schools to have the funding to create competent nurses.
Sometimes, for medical employees, it is hard to maintain confidentiality when family members want to know about their loved ones. They can be awful demanding and hurtful when their heart is breaking over a seriously ill family member. But we must remember our duty is to the patient and what we can do is refer that mother, father, brother, sister, wife or husband to someone better equipped to deal with them. I read a statement once by the American Medical Association that states that no physician or medical staff should reveal any confidential communication or information without the express written consent of the patient unless required by law. To me that is pretty cut and dry….Glenn’s lips are sealed.
The shortage was further worsened after the Second World War. Currently, America experiences an acute shortage of nurses within the healthcare facilities. The shortage is caused by different factors that include aging workforce, reduction in number of graduates from nursing schools, poor remuneration and other job working conditions making nurses to look for other better paying jobs in other service sectors like insurance or private practice nursing. This paper discusses ways of reducing nursing shortage in America and focuses mainly on three key issues of reducing the shortage. The issues are financial assistance programs for nursing students, creating a retention environment and strengthening the infrastructure.
Consumer’s opinions should also be taken into consideration, not only during intake and when exiting the facility, but throughout their stay as well. In today’s system you often see the nursing assistant overworked and frustrated which results in an unhappy work environment. This can cause consumers to feel un-welcomed and as a burden. This can also affect patient care because not every patient is receiving the highest level of care from someone who is overworked and exhausted. There has been a number of quality initiatives aimed at facilities such as these and much research has been done regarding a patient’s survival verses the number of staff to patients.
Some nursing positions were cut due to the demands of managed care which drastically increased the workload of individual registered nurses. Many nurses were driven away due to the growing burnout and feeling that they couldn’t meet their professional responsibilities to their patients. Other factors contributing to nursing shortage is poor work conditions, the aging RN workforce, inadequate resources for nursing research and education, the increasing complexity of health care and technology, and the rapidly aging populations as well as lack of professional autonomy. The work load is causing nurses to leave the hospital and work in other areas of nursing or other
Programs that were in place for the care of people who cannot afford to pay are being considered for cuts and many people are uncertain how they will care for themselves when the time comes. Elderly suicide is real and prevalent and some consider this to be a viable option for not ‘burdening’ the system or their families. Identify two key health care-related challenges to this population, such as increases in health care costs, or the need for in-home medical care. “The need for in-home care that will keep people safe and healthy in their own homes is a growing necessity.” (Garrett, N., & Martini, E. 2007) In our society, we will continue to see a rise in the utilization of both of these programs. Many do not realize how cost effective it is to have services in their own home and are quickly moved into an assisted living community by their families without even considering other options.
The source of the issue is that there are too many veterans needing medical assistance and not enough resources to manage the demand in a timely manner, which causes overcrowding in Veteran medical centers country wide. Due to this overcrowding, officials who are trying to keep their jobs falsify reports; often times being rewarded for the falsified reports. It has been estimated that a large number of veterans have died stateside over the last several years. This is due to the way that several of Veteran Health Affairs medical centers administrations are mismanaged. Resulting in an increase in length of time veterans are being made to wait for their medical consults and their doctors appointments.
Monday, January 16th, 1862: Everyday soldiers come into our field hospitals, with minor and very major injuries that they receive in battle. Things around here are so hectic and the doctors here are very stressed. We’re having a hard time keeping up with people that come into the hospitals, because there are so many of them. We are trying our best to help everyone with their injuries, but it has become so overwhelming. So many people have been dying lately and we just can’t take it anymore.
Harvard Mental Health Letter. Review Questions 1. How do people with dementia deal with the knowledge that eventually they will not be able to think coherently and recognise those they love? 2. Often I have heard stories of family members not wishing to visit mothers or fathers with dementia as it is too painful to see them in the way they are.