Safety Communication and Placement for the Older Adult Essay

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Safety, Communication, And Placement for the Adult

Communication, and Placement for the Older Adult

Safety, Communication, and Placement for the Older Adult

Nursing practice continues to evolve and revolutionize the health care sector, providing new care units as technology and practices advance. The introduction of the discharge care plan for patients made the practice of facilitating the recovery process of patients simple. However, it is notable that, the discharge plan for each person varies since some factors in situations of the patients differ. Therefore, in developing and establishing a discharge plan for a patient, the managing nurse facilitating the plan should consider the personal attributes of the patient in question (Schultz & Videbeck, 2009). Additionally, the health care issues of patients differ; thus, the need to establish a team of professionals addressing the patients needs to ensure a holistic recovery process for the patient, especially the older patients.

The healthcare issues for an appropriate discharge plan for Mr. Trosack and significance of these issues in managing elderly discharge patient.

The case of Mr. Trosack is not new in practice as it represents the many cases of the old generation persons, who do not believe on regular health checks and the formal medication prescription (Schultz & Videbeck, 2009). The first issue is ill health of the patient. When the body is weak, such a person does not have adequate defensive mechanisms in his body. this creates a challenge in managing repetitive and easily communicable diseases against the patient. The second issue of Mr. Trosack is that he does not have support from his family. He literally lives alone, and has to work for himself, a factor that contributes to isolation. When an elderly person suffers isolation, this presents a psychological issue that needs addressing during the discharge plan; to ensure the person does not commit suicide due to suffering and neglect from family and friends. Thirdly, Mr. Trosack suffers from critical weak health, contributing to his weak body, apart from failure to have a checkup for the past 10 years prior to this operation. When an elderly person is aging, it is necessary to have regular checkups to recognize other hidden illnesses, which may not manifest before they are critical. For instance, M. Trosack has hypertension, yet he did not realize until the doctors examined him.

The team and the role of each person in the team

Discharge planning is a multidisciplinary teamwork that facilitates the recovery process of patient after discharge from the healthcare center. The team leader is the formal case manager, usually a nurse. The other team members included in the discharge plan making and execution are nurses, social workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists and physicians (Lees, 2011). The case manager is the coordinator of the discharge plan and ensures that the patient gets the care from all the parties involved. The nurses facilitate medication and general care of socially isolated patients. The social workers help to relate the patient with the society and developments in the society, integrating them back into society. The physical therapist examines the physical recovery progress of the patient and makes any change in recommendation. He also advises the patient on exercise measures to recover holistically. The physician keeps track of the healing progress, and manages the patient by providing regular health checks to ensure patient does not suffer from undetected illnesses.

The issues of safety assessment that affect the determination of discharge placement

The safety issues that affect the discharge placement of the patient are those factors that could harm the patient or hinder progressive positive recovery. Such factors include, lack of support, especially from those close to the patient. Another factor is the occupational expectations or activities that a patient engages, for instance, if the work is risky to the physical health of the patient (Lees, 2011). The availability of the people that live with the elderly patient leading to isolation forces the elderly to fend themselves.

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This affects the placement of discharge plan. Therefore, to have an effective discharge plan, the case manager needs to establish an environment around the patient that will foster their care.

The family of Mr. Trosack

Mr. Trosack has his brother Karl, who is also aging and his son Peter, who has a wife and is trying to establish himself as a family man. The family lives in proximity, in Chicago. They agreed to be monitoring and caring for Mr. Trosack even before his accident. However, due to their many commitments, their failure forced Mr. Trosack believe that he is not old and can care for himself. Therefore, in actual sense, Mr. Trosack suffers social isolation as his family is not anywhere near him to care for him. When asked, they said that they would "try" to visit him more often. This shows lack of commitment on their part to care for him.

Effect of social isolation on older adults' recovery process

Most elderly people live in denial of the fact that they are aging. Therefore, when the immediate family isolates them, they try to prove their ability by overworking their weakening bodies, which results in physical injuries to the body (Lees, 2011). The elderly suffer psychological problems due to isolation. Therefore, the recovery process is slow, and the patient could easily recede into depression. The isolation gives them a negative attitude towards recovery as they imagine they are old and death is the ultimate consequence. People fear death, and this could worry the elderly person disturbing their recovery progress. When the individual lacks support at home, they cannot do most things, such as cooking some foods or washing clothes and this impairs their recovery process.

The way psychological factors affect the recovery process

The psychological development of the individual is crucial to their recovery progress. A patient, whose mindset is that of a person ready to die, will encounter problems of recovery, as they do not have the will to live (Holloway, 2004). Similarly, the psychological belief that the person is suffering from a certain illness, even when it is not true, could contribute the individual suffering. The psychological aspect of not believing in certain medicines, even when that medicine is the best and cures completely, can cause patient not to heal. On the positive side, positive psychological conviction keeps the person willing and pushing on towards recovery. Such a person could recover easily as they have the determination.

Safety Assessment

Assessing the safety issues of the setting in Mr. Trosack's house, there are factors such as the size of his apartment, cluttered furniture and the access to the apartment. The size of the apartment, kitchen and bathroom means that he may have to relocate to another room. Moreover, the issue of the two flight stairs makes the safety of Mr. Trosack's health poor as he can easily fall while boarding the stairs. The absence of an elevator necessitates the need for help from another person or relocating to another apartment that is easy to access. Additionally, it is clear from the situation of the house, the scattered rugs, dirty carpet, expired medicine and expired food in refrigerator; that Mr. Trosack cannot attend to his personal hygiene matters. This is risky to his health as expired food and medicines can kill. Therefore, he needs to have a care person close to keep his house clean and help him maintain the house.

The discharge placement for Mr. Trosack

Before setting the discharge placement plan in progress, there are some factor needing redress. These factors are such as the family setting of Mr. Trosack. The brother and the son, who are the only family members, need counseling and preparation enlightening them on the situation of Mr. Trosack. Additionally, the house setting of Mr. Trosack needs planning and rearranging if he is to go back to that….....

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