Person Centred Approaches to Geriatric Care

INTRODUCTION

In planning a care approach to your patient or client, there are a lot of factors that you should put in to consideration. You should be aware of your client’s history to begin with. The history of your client is very important because from it you will gain a lot of information about your client which in turn will help you a lot on how your care plan will be. You can gather this information by personally talking or interacting with the client or by reviewing his documents if the client is not as oriented with himself.

The clients history is only one of the many principles that you will put in to consideration, these principles will be discussed in this report. Other than the principles, the reporter will also be discussing some of the techniques on how to meet your clients’ needs.

This report is to give a comparison between person-centered and non-person-centered approach in giving care to people with dementia and other common geriatric health condition, to assess the scope of techniques to meet the fluctuating abilities and needs of clients, to determine the impact of equality, and cultural and diversity issues on the provision of the person-centered approach to the clients, and to analyse the effects of legislation and policy on the person-centered practice approach for patients with dementia and other common geriatric health conditions. The report is descriptive in nature. The data were analysed and interpreted.

Question 1

Discuss and review the principles used in Person-Centered approach in taking care of patients with Dementia and other geriatric health conditions.

• Individuality – In this principle, the caregiver should focus on the client’s history, interests, hobbies, and work. This can be gathered from the client or from the client’s family. Each client is unique from each other that is why this principle is very important. With the use of this principle, it will be easier for the caregiver to connect with the client and the caregiver will be aware of the things that he would avoid since they know what the client dislikes or has no interest with.
• Rights – In this principle, the caregiver should always put in mind that the client is a human being. He should never forget that the client has rights and should always be respected regardless of the degree of his illness or his cognitive impairment.
• Choice – The main point of this principle is to give the client a voice and an option to choose from. It is important for the client to have a “say” on his care plan. Even as simple as his meals, it would be a great help if the client is involved and could be given choices for him to choose. This principle is also very vital in matters or procedures that involves the life of the client. There should be a consent that the client has agreed on or if not capable there should be a court order or any procedures to be undertaken by the client.
• Privacy – This is the main principle behind the “Patient to Doctor Confidentiality” rule. This goes to all health worker that is involve in the care of the patient. Only with the patients consent can his case or data be disclosed to other party outside his care.
• Independence – This is very vital for patients with dementia. Independence gives them self-worth and somehow makes their brain do more critical thinking which in turn battles their illness. Being the caregiver, you will need to determine in what way the patient can be independent. This will help them surpass their daily challenges.
• Dignity – This principle is about the totality of the patient. To make the client feel dignified, he must be full-filled on all aspects of his being. To achieve this, holistic care should be provided to the client.
• Respect – Same as with the principle “Rights”, we need to keep in mind that we are caring for a human being, and these patients are elderly as well. Same as with how we treat other people, we should never forget to be respectful, this is not just a principle in care but should be practiced in life as well.
• Autonomy – If possible, each care plan for different patients should be unique. It should be tailored to the patient’s needs. The patient should be involve in making a care plan for them. In this way they can be autonomous.

Question 2

Critically review the non-person-centered approach to dementia and other common geriatric health condition’s care, from the

• Institution perspective – This type of care is based on the establishment’s policy. The patient’s physical, social and spiritual needs are under this care, but to include all the other aspects of care like the diet, total well-being and personal care, legal actions may be required. This type of care varies between different institutions.
• Bio-medical perspective – This perspective of care is mainly focused on the illness itself. The treatment, medications and the diagnosis is based on the disease, there is not much about the patient that is involved in this perspective of care.

Question 3

Discuss and evaluate Five techniques to meet the abilities and needs of persons with dementia and other common geriatric health conditions.

• Reality-orientation approach – In this approach of care, the staff and the client are doing activities that reinforces what is real around the client. The patient is being oriented with his surroundings at the same time he is familiarizing what is around him. This is very important for clients with dementia since memory is the one that is being affected by this disease mainly. The staff will be using a lot of memory aids and signs in their activity together with the client.

• Validation approach – In this technique, the staff is mainly a listener and the one that is doing the intervention. The staff will be focusing on what the client will be saying and is going to interpret its emotional content and literally understanding it. A lot of information can be gathered by this technique because some demented patient are answering questions in a sub-conscious manner.
• Assistive technologies – In this approach the staff will be using assistive technologies in the care of the patient. This devices helps the client in their activities of daily living, it will make their tasks easier and also the job of the caregivers. This devices lets the clients explore their surrounding more, it adds to their self-confidence, gives them hope and increases their self-esteem. Some examples of this devices are hoists, wheelchairs and walkers.
• Reminiscence techniques – This technique uses the life events of the client. By letting the client reminisce on his past, he is developing his memory. It supports their identity and lessens their disorientation about their personality and history. Caregivers uses this technique because it helps their clients with dementia to keep what is retained in their memory. It is important for the caregiver to ask open ended questions in this technique so that the client can share more about their life story and let them reflect on their lives.
• Holistic approach – In this approach, the caregiver should focus on the totality of the client. This includes the client’s spiritual, intellectual, physical, and emotional dimension. This technique provides integrated therapies that combines all of the dimensions to develop wellness from the inside of the client in an uninterrupted healing environment.

Question 4

Critically analyse and discuss the impact of equality, and cultural and diversity issues on the provision of the person-centered approach to individuals with dementia and the other common geriatric conditions within

• Public health and health promotion – These are organizations and programs by these organizations or the government that helps the elderly. These groups are working together with the government in their cause. Most of them are also being funded by the government. They do programs like education campaigns about geriatric health conditions, they do advocacy work, they help spread awareness and have services that are focused on the elderly and their diseases.

In health promotion, there are 6 activities for the aged citizens with dementia (National Service Framework, Department of Health, 2001)

• Reducing the discrimination of aged people
• Care that is person centered should be developed more
• Minimizing the cases of strokes
• Minimizing falls from happening to the clients
• Enhancing mental health
• Promoting healthy and active lifestyle for the aged

• Attitudes to health and demand for the healthcare – As a healthcare provider we should be conscious on how we act towards our client. We should be cautious on our behavior and be mindful that we take in to factor our clients’ ethnic and diversity. We should focus our care plan on their illness at the same time taking in to consideration that most of our client are not of the same ethnicity as us. If possible, the caregiver should do a brief study about their clients’ culture so that as a health care provider, we can avoid what is offensive for our client. Having a healthy relationship with your client helps both party, as a caregiver, having a healthy relationship with your client is a priority because this will lead to a mutual understanding that gives your client peace of mind and helps eases their difficulties.

New Zealand is a very diverse nation that is comprised of multiple cultures. At the same time, its population is aging at a high rate, that is why there is a great demand for health care workers like caregivers that will take care of their elderly. To be trained to provide care for people of any culture is a vital qualification to get in to their healthcare roster.

Question 5

Critically analyse and discuss the impacts that health sector standards and codes of practice, and other published standards have on the person-centered practice approach for individuals with dementia and other common geriatric health conditions.

The health sector standards and codes has a great impact on the healthcare sector mainly because it is the governing body that regulates on how the aged patient should be taken care of. All of the hospitals, care homes, and all those organizations and service provisions is under this standards and codes. All of the policies of these organizations is based on the standards and codes that is approved by the Ministry of Health.

The care that will be administered to the patients with dementia maybe unique and tailored specifically to a specific individual, but we must not forget that this care plan should not go away with the standards and codes of the health sector.

RECOMMENDATION

In taking care of an elderly client, there are a lot of factors to consider. For the caregiver to generate an effective care plan, he must be informed about the principle involved in doing a person-centered approach. With this knowledge, the caregiver can generate an effective care plan. Also, to be aware of what his care plan’s approach is, the caregiver should know the different approaches there are that are being used for geriatric patients with dementia and other common geriatric health conditions.

CONCLUSION

As a member of the health care sector, upon making this report, I have reached to the conclusion that knowing the different principle involved in the person-centered approach in taking care of a patient with dementia and other geriatric health conditions plays a vital role in formulating a care plan. Knowing all this principles ca make your care plan complete on all aspects of care. This principles benefits the client most since this is in a person-centered approach.

In a non-person-centered approach, it is important to know their perspective as well, since the health care professional and the client is under the policy of the institution that they are in. In this manner, the caregiver can put in to consideration the institutions’ policy so that there won’t be any conflict between them.

The caregiver is aware that the institution where he is working is under the standards and codes of the health sector, therefore he should keep in mind that the policies of that institution is being regulated and controlled and is up to standards.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Electronic Sources

Holistic Care Approach. Our History. Retrieved on August 7, 2014 from http://www.holisticcareapproach.com/about.html

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