Hospitalization of Older People Hospitals

Hospitalization of Older People

Hospitals as Recovery Institutions

Hospitals are designed to be places of caring and nurturing with an emphasis on the physical healing and recovery of the patient. Typically - and as in their day-to-day living situations - special care is mandatory for senior citizens if inherent risks are to be reduced and/or avoided.

With the largest percentage - in recorded history - of the population nearing senior age, the inherent and controllable factors to the dangers of hospitalization must be dealt with - and soon.

The focus of this paper is to delve into some the issues facing aging patients and how the day-to-day role and interaction of a nurse can impact that risk.

Decline - Physical

Decline is a key problem facing older patients and the hospitalization experience often accelerates the problem. Being in a bed for long periods places the elderly at risk for decubitus growth, respiratory diseases such as bronchial infections or deadly pneumonia, and psychological decline. Well meaning enough, hospitals often ignore the special needs of such patients. Offering them foods to which they are unaccustomed, allowing long periods of bedfast inactivity, and delaying critical physical therapy are all factors which can quickly contribute to their rapid decline and even death.

Decline - Cognitive

Memory problems, confusion, dementia, situational hallucinations, and the reduction in mental coping skills are all inherent in placing older people into an institutional setting where the patient may not have the level of comfort and sense of safety they may have at home.

Advantages - Physical

Hospitalization for senior people can be desirable situation. Timed care, intervention medical procedures, poly-pharmacy management, and other support services can prolong life, provide safety measures, and the like.

According to the Irish Medical Organisation, Mallow General Hospital is addressing the aging dynamic through the "Aging with Confidence" programs. This program "will allow the elderly to be treated in their own community and lessen the effects of institutionalisation of our elderly (the biggest increasing work load for the future).

By treating the geriatric patient in a community setting, much of the cognitive problem is avoided; the patient is familiar with their surroundings and much of their normal routine may be implemented into their daily care.

Nursing Interventions

The nurse is the first line of defense in caring for the patient; senior patients benefit from nurses who have a high degree of empathy for the patient's needs and experiences.

In one hospital system - the Cabell Huntington Medical - nurses and nurse practitioners "walk through the experience of what it's like to be a senior... we have goggles that mimic sight deficits. We use ear plugs, and ways to mimic the tactile changes elderly patients go through. We'll immobilize people, to show what it would be like if they had a stroke, and then ask them to do tasks. It makes them more sensitive to seniors' needs."

In Great Britain, nursing care follows a holistic approach to guiding the aging patient through the hospital stay and into 'step down', cottage hospitals, and community recovery centers. Through an empathetic and geriatric skill set, the geriatric nurse can thereby decrease her ultimate workload while maintaining a higher quality of life for the hospitalized patient.