Registered Nurses’ Experiences of Caring for the Elderly in different Health-care Areas
Over the recent past, the geriatric population has increased tremendously. This growth has led to more concentration towards the care of the older population based on the chronic condition that they present with. These people require professional care from nurses and other care specialists to attend to them in their homes as well as other centers of care with the aim of meeting their needs. The elderly also form a center of focus when it comes to caring based on the factor that this group is usually vulnerable to diverse health issues within the society. The vulnerability may range from physical abuse, having multiple chronic conditions as well as nursing various mental health conditions. These lead to the uniqueness of their care in the medical field.
The nurses endowed with the care of the geriatrics are therefore tasked with various responsibilities to ensure the older people are usually safe and off the danger of any illness or any other external factor that comes along to impact their lives. To meet the needs of the older people in various settings of care delivery, special knowledge is critical in making the entire process relatively smooth. At the same time, the care providers at these setting need to be up to date with the changes in the care of the geriatrics to improve quality and safety of care.
Concerning the nature of activities that nurses engage in while caring for the elderly population, they tend to be predisposed to various factors that may make them stressed, fatigue and overall burnout. These factors had a direct impact on the patient outcome as well as satisfaction for both the care providers and the care users. Furthermore, the nurses get impacted in various ways as compared to the care providers for other patient populations.
PICOT statement
Among the registered nurses, how do caring for the elderly patients influence their caring experience compared to care provision to other patient populations groups in various care settings that occurs during the entire period of serving geriatrics?
Reference list
Carlson, E., & Bengtsson, M. (2014). The uniqueness of elderly care: registered nurses’
experience as preceptors during clinical practice in nursing homes and home-based
care. Nurse education today, 34(4), 569-573.
The research was based on the existing shortage of registered nurses specialized in caring for the elders. Besides, the previous studies also indicated the supervision of the nursing student during the clinical practicum experiences also had a significant impact on the career choices such learners get inclined to. The power was then necessary based on the fact that there is need to have specialists to care for the geriatric who are usually vulnerable to health factors. The study aimed at illustrating the experience of the registered nurses in precepting the student nurses during the clinical experience while caring for geriatric in the nursing homes and the home-based care services.
It utilized a qualitative design that had 30 registered nurses organized into seven groups. Focused group interviews were then conducted to gather the information concerning preceptor experiences of the nurses. Various elements emerged about precepting strategies while caring for geriatrics. These entailed promotions of creativity and independent care, getting the students ready for the end of life care as well as the promotion of respectful approach when attending to the older persons. It is vivid from the findings that communities where elderly care is practice form valuable and conducive settings for learning to promote geriatric care provision.
Carlson, E., Rämgård, M., Bolmsjö, I., & Bengtsson, M. (2014). Registered nurses’ perceptions
of their professional work in nursing homes and home-based care: A focus group
study. International journal of nursing studies, 51(5), 761-767.
This study aimed at exploring the perception of nurses working in the nursing homes and the home-based care facilities concerning their work within the p-profession. It was based on the fact that in most of the industrialized countries, there is an expectation of an increase in the population of the geriatrics which impacts the demand of healthcare services thus impacting the nursing staff. The study also identified previous studies that determined the lack of specialists to care for the older patients with others articles determining geriatric care being a less lucrative career in the nursing and medical field thus having less personnel. These prompted the exploration by the authors to get the experiences of the nurses handling the geriatrics with an overall aim of promoting care among the elderly patients.
The qualitative study used focused group discussion that entailed 30 registered nurses that were placed in seven groups. Interviews were conducted in there set groups and were analyzed according to the tradition of the naturalistic inquiry. It emerged that the nurses perceived their duties to revolve around comprehensive and respectful nursing care provision. Other aspects that emerged entailed the provision of care that exceeds the technical skills, balancing independence and instances of loneliness and developing long-term relationships with the patients. These outcomes led to the conclusion of the existence of positive options that overtake the existing views of geriatric nursing to be depressing and extensive. These can be applied by the nurse educators to promote training and specialization of care to enhance care for the group.
Cleary, J., & Doody, O. (2017). Nurses’ experience of caring for people with intellectual
disability and dementia. Journal of clinical nursing, 26(5-6), 620-631.
This study aimed at exploring and expounding on the experience of nurses concerning the caring of the geriatrics who have dementia as well as intellectual disability. The study was based on the fact that the aging population is increasing together with the instances of intellectual disability and dementia. These patients reside in the residential areas, the community, as well as the residential care centers, thus requires nurses to adapt to such settings to offer them the services that they need.
It did this through the use of a qualitative Husserlian descriptive Phenomenological method. The method allowed the researchers to be part of the nursing force and allow assessment of the nurses concerning their experience while caring for the older population. The authors used semi-structured interviews to collect the information from 11 nurses. The information from the interviews was transcribed and analysis done via the use of Colaizzi’s framework. Three themes that emerged from the data analysis included knowledge of dementia, transitioning in the service provision as well as person-centered care. The study found out there was a need for proactive planning for the adequate provision of care alongside other issues such as support regarding funding to facilitate the care operations. It further determines the vital nature of the nurses getting to know the person they are caring for, giving them support as well as assessing various behaviors that are usually out of control among the older adults.
Dillworth, J., Dickson, V. V., Mueller, A., Shuluk, J., Yoon, H. W., & Capezuti, E. (2016).
Nurses’ perspectives: hospitalized older patients and end‐of‐life
decision‐making. Nursing in critical care, 21(2).
The study focused on determining the issues that were of concern among nurses caring for geriatrics in hospitals relating to the decision making about palliative care and end of life issues. All these were based on the fact that the critical care nurses are key players in assisting the geriatric and their significant others concerning decision making about end of life and palliative care issues. Issues that usually ensue include pain, prolonged intervention, disregard of the wishes of the elderly persons and inadequate communication. In understanding these issues, the nursing fraternity can address them to meet the needs of the old people.
The study utilized a mixed method to achieve its objectives. It conducted a secondary analysis on the database of NICHE Geriatric Institutional Assessment Profile that availed the comments relating to palliative care and end of life decision making. The comments from 393 critical care nurses sampled from 156 hospitals were used to come up with the themes. The themes from the comments encompassed unrealistic expectations, ineffective communication amongst physician, patient and the family, lack of time as well as discordance concerning the goals of care. The authors determined the need for staff education, better communication and availability of palliative care services as pointed out from the nurses’ experiences.
Gallagher, R., Fry, M., Chenoweth, L., Gallagher, P., & Stein‐Parbury, J. (2014). Emergency
department nurses’ perceptions and experiences of providing care for older
people. Nursing & health sciences, 16(4), 449-453.
The pointed at the minimal concern relating to the perception of nurses concerning the roles and encounters despite the expectation of providing safe and quality care to the geriatrics. The study utilized focused groups to explore the perception and experiences of nurses in the emergency department caring for the elderly patients. Four groups of nurses with at least three months experience in the emergency department were involved. The data collected were analyzed thematically.
Two themes emanated from the analysis. There existed clash of expectations that rocked the nurses and the families concerning the safety and quality of care. The older people were considered being at risk within the emergency unit setting with nurses being in a dilemma in handling their situation to provide safe and quality care. The nurse was therefore unhappy with the situation since they perceived the significant others to be frustrated with the care and may not understand the situation at hand. The other issues that the article brought out were the fact that the nurses felt that the significant others would assist in providing care to enhance safety and quality care. These perceptions are essential to influence the care that the elderly require in meeting their needs.
Taylor, B. J., Rush, K. L., & Robinson, C. A. (2015). Nurses’ experiences of caring for the older
adult in the emergency department: A focused ethnography. International emergency
nursing, 23(2), 185-189.
The authors aimed at exploring the experience of nurses in caring for the older adults in the emergency department. This objective was achieved by the application of a focused ethnographic study. The study utilized both the semi-structured interviews as well as the non-participant observation to collect data from the nurses. Seven registered nurses participated in the study where they provided detailed information concerning their experiences in the care of geriatrics within the emergency department. Theme analysis was done to the transcribed data.
The study came up with themes such as the culture, which concentrated on the throughput of patients and setting priorities, lack of fit between the geriatrics and the emergency unit and handing on the lack of fit that exists. Form the nurses’ experience, it turned out that the nurses placed their reliance on the default orientation when it comes to setting priorities which indeed impaired the quality of services to the patients. The authors concluded that there was a need to curb the lack of fit and supporting the nurses in offering care to the older adults.
