Person-Centered Care in Long-Term Care Facilities

Introduction

There has been a tremendous surge in recommendations to implement patient-centered care in hospitals and other care facilities, such as nursing homes. By definition, person-centered care refers to the tendency to empower patients to have an active role in their healthcare instead of being passive recipients of healthcare services (Johs-Artisensi, 2017). Medical professionals emphasize that patients should feel valued by their caregivers, which is best expressed through person-centered care (Johs-Artisensi, 2017). The emphasis on delivering personalized care is a positive leap from the past when healthcare institutions mostly cared about the efficiency of their operations.

The caregivers who work in long-term care facilities ought to embrace their roles in implementing person-centered care. One way that they can do this is by treating patients with respect. The elderly appreciate it when treated with respect, especially since many people often overlook this fact. Secondly, caregivers can implement person-centered care by being empathetic. The elderly in nursing homes need consistent emotional support because the helplessness of old age is sometimes too much to bear. The third way caregivers can enforce person-centered care is by engaging them to create the optimal care they require based on each patient’s preferences. Patients develop a better attitude towards their caregivers and overall experience in nursing homes if they feel their wants and needs are prioritized.

The rationality behind implementing person-centered care is the belief that patients play a significant role in their health outcomes (Levterova, 2020). The increasing number of long-term patients demands more personal services, mainly because these patients spend much time with caregivers. Therefore, healthcare givers must convince patients that their values and opinions are valued. As a result, these patients will develop a better attitude, which improves their overall experience. Nevertheless, providing patient-centered care is easier said than done.

Gerontological nursing standards were therefore developed to ensure that the people working in nursing homes deliver commendable service to their clients. One of the most salient standards is known as relational care. This standard was created to ensure that caregivers establish healthy relationships with their patients (Touhy et al., 2019). It requires caregivers to act with empathy and be considerate of the wants and needs of the elderly under their care.

Gerontological nursing standards also emphasize the need for caregivers to implement professional ethics as they deliver services to their clients through the middle of ethical care. It requires nurses to think critically about what they need to do and how to do it just and fair. Gerontological nursing standards help to ascertain that long-term care facilities offer superior quality care to elderly patients because they promote person-centered care (Touhy et al., 2019). This reflective report seeks to analyze the progress that has been achieved in healthcare delivery and the possible way that personalized healthcare would be implemented better in long-term care facilities.

Person-Centered Care Strategies

The person-centered care strategies in nursing homes include; independence, individuality, privacy, partnership, dignity, and respect. Nurses in nursing homes should give patients daily tasks to ensure that they remain as autonomous and self-sufficient as possible. Gerontological nurses should recognize that each elderly patient is unique in their way and should relate with each patient individually. The privacy strategy requires gerontological nurses to uphold confidentiality about the issues that their patients share in confidence. Doing so helps to cultivate a trustworthy relationship with patients in nursing homes.

The partnership strategy is where gerontological nurses convince their patients in nursing homes about the importance of working together because they have similar objectives (Levterova, 2020). It ensures that patients appreciate the care they receive, and also caregivers become more invested in improving the care that patients in nursing homes can access. The strategy of dignity involves treating patients with the due respect they deserve and avoiding situations that may embarrass them (Levterova, 2020). The strategy of dignity is closely related to the strategy of respect, which instructs gerontological nurses to watch how they interact with patients.

Standards of Practice as per CGNA

Gerontological nursing standards were put in place to address the health and quality of life of the elderly. They ascertain that the people in nursing homes are treated with a certain decorum and that they receive the best care possible. Person-centered care, which is at the core of Gerontological nursing standards, is the best way to ensure that all patients in nursing homes feel as safe as they thought while back at their places or even safer than they thought before.

Person-centered care creates room for a caregiver to focus on a patient, know about them, and use collected information in the best way possible. Canadian gerontological nursing standards use six primary standards to facilitate person-centered care. These standards include; relational care, ethical care, evidence-based care, artistic care, safe care, and socio-politically engaged care.

Relational care ensure that caregivers connect with their patients on a deeper level. It is a type of care that was meant to help gerontological nurses be empathetic with their patients’ plight and offer support on how they can make their lives richer while within the nursing homes. Ethical care instructs gerontological nurses to be assertive about providing care to avoid going against the professional code of ethical conduct. Ethical conduct helps to maintain professionalism when dealing with patients.

Elderly patients have many complications associated with their advanced age. As a result, gerontological nurses must have a curious mind to provide the best care possible to patients. Evidence-based care demands that gerontological nurses should always understand the personal health history of individuals under their jurisdiction before deciding the best way to take care of them (CGNA, 2020). Gerontological nurses should enrich the lives of their patients by adding some flair through artistic care.

A holistic environment reinforces a positive attitude and mood among patients in nursing homes. Therefore, gerontological nurses should have access to artistic practices, such as music, poetry, drawings, and stories, among others. As the name suggests, safe care promotes safety where caregivers inform patients about the need to take care of themselves and show consideration for other patients in long-term facilities (CGNA, 2020). socio-politically engaged care ensures that caregivers in nursing homes can inform the elderly and their families about all socio-political forces that affect care provision in long-term care facilities (CGNA, 2020). It allows individual patients to participate in practices like education, social justice advocacy, and promoting policies that improve care in nursing homes.

Reflection: The research paper under discussion is a vivid example of why gerontological nursing standards are relevant. Several problems were made apparent by the remarks made by the research participants in the paper, and gerontological nursing standards would have resolved these issues. For instance, the interview sessions unearthed that most respondents had a problem with going to the toilet. A significant number of these respondents wish they had used bedpans instead of diapers (Donnelly & MacEntee, 2016). The partnership strategy would have eliminated this issue because it would have facilitated amicable discussions to develop a solution that favors both parties. The researcher also observed how people were moved through the nursing homes while dressed indecently. Such an occurrence would not have happened if the caregivers working in the facilities followed ethical care as stipulated within the Canadian gerontological nursing standards.

Conclusion

Gerontological nursing standards emphasize the importance of measures to promote person-centered care among the elderly in nursing homes. The research paper under scrutiny shows a gap between the theory and practice of person-centered care (Donnelly & MacEntee, 2016). It reveals how long-term care facilities proclaim their embrace of person-centered care but barely implement the concept. The remarks made by respondents of the research paper under discussion illustrate a lack of adherence to gerontological nursing standards.

I feel that this research paper made it vivid that long-term care facilities should become more accommodating of the wants and needs of patients, mainly because paying for care in nursing homes consumes a lot of money. It illustrates the need to emphasize person-centered care when practicing gerontological nursing. The solution to the current issue is to strictly abide by the Canadian gerontological nursing standards set by how to deliver the best service possible to the elderly in nursing homes.

References

Andrew, A., & Ritchie, L. (2017). Culture change in aged-care facilities: A café’s contribution to transforming the physical and social environment. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 31(1), 34-46.

CGNA. (2020). Standards – Canadian Gerontological Nursing Association. Canadian Gerontological Nursing Association. Web.

Donnelly, L., & MacEntee, M. I. (2016). Care perceptions among residents of LTC facilities purporting to offer person-centered care. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue canadienne du vieillissement, 35(2), 149-160.

Johs-Artisensi, J. L. (2017). Operationalizing person-centered care practices in long-term care: recommendations from a “Resident for a Day” experience. Patient Experience Journal, 4(3), 76-85.

Levterova, B. (2020). Person-centered care in chronic disease-a review of concepts. Knowledge-International Journal, 40(5), 889-892.

Touhy, T. A., Jett, K. F., Boscart, V., & McCleary, L. (2019). Ebersole and Hess’ Gerontological Nursing and Healthy Aging in Canada-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.