Reflection On Long Term Care Experience

The elderly in nursing home are at an increased risk for falls, more than any other area. An average of 5% of all persons over the age of 65 reside in nursing homes. On average, over 1,800 people over the age 65 fall while in nursing homes every year and 20% of all fall related deaths occur from falls while living in nursing homes (Centers of Disease Control & Prevention, 2012).

The staff nurses and patient care technicians (PCT) in 6 East were not getting the sufficient education reinforcement regarding fall prevention. Consequently, this has created a knowledge gap among staff members regarding fall prevention strategies. The knowledge gap in fall prevention has led to an increase of staff non-compliance with the policy and the trending increase of fall rates in the unit during the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2015. The plan to mitigate this problem was developed through the collaboration with the nursing leadership on the provision of staff education on fall prevention. The stakeholders involved were the unit manager, fall prevention resource nurse, and clinical nurse educator who were interested in coordinating the quality

Additionally, this experience helped me to develop effective therapeutic communication techniques and enforce skills to provide enhanced care for the resident. An improvement that I would make for next semester is to improve my execution and time management while performing tasks. I intend to perform skills with greater confidence and improve my overall interactions with the patients, families, and health care workers. Improving these interactions will benefit in the overall comfort of the patient and improve the care that I will provide to them. Overall, this Long Term Care experience provided me with the necessary fundamental skills practice and critical thinking development that will be utilized in the following semesters and throughout my nursing

Some of the databases that were searched for information about my PICOT questions were not directly related to patients in long-term care facilities. The Databases that were searched included CINAHL, National Guideline Clearing House, Ovid, and EBSCO, articles related to my PICOT was found on National Guideline Clearing House and Ovid. Some of the key words that were used during the search were Hendrich II fall risk tool, fall in Long-term care facilities, Geriatric falls, fall prevention and predicting fall. National Guideline Clearing (www.guideline.gov) produced about ten results directly related to the content in the PICOT question and CINAHL had thirty nine results.

Learning the codes of practice ensures that I promote and uphold the privacy, dignity and rights of the clients I care for and that I strive to improve the quality of healthcare, care and support through continuing professional development. I achieve this within my job role by ensuring that the service users and their families are informed and included in all aspects of their care

Throughout the semester, I have learned so much about the different aspects of a long-term health care facility. From textbook readings, class lectures, case studies, to group projects, my knowledge and understanding of what it takes to run a long-term health care facility has grown immensely. With the percentage of the population above the age of 60 about to increase rapidly, long-term facilities will become more prevalent and important. The five main aspects I would focus on as an administrator in a long-term care facility are following regulations, making correct care plans for patients, ensuring there is enough qualified staff at all times, providing stimulating activities, and ensure a comfortable and home-like atmosphere for the residents.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), each year, one third of those who are 65 and older fall (2013). These falls contributed to $34 billion in direct medical costs in 2013 (cite). With these statistics, it is apparent that health care professionals and health care settings need to make fall prevention a priority in their facilities. The aim of this paper is to explore a fall prevention policy and practice guidelines to evaluate recent evidence and offer recommendations.

Significance of the Problem for Nursing: Prevention of falls in the elderly is an extremely important facet of nursing. Elderly falls often result in fractures, pain, decreased mobility, traumatic hemorrhages, as well as increased healthcare costs. Due to the increased prevalence of injuries acquired from elderly falls, increased risk of morbidity in the elderly experiencing falls, and the growing number of elderly patients, it is of vast importance that nurses research and incorporate evidence-based fall prevention practices to prevent falls in the elderly

The site I observed at was Nazareth senior living center. The facility provides short term and long term care to older adults. The health care staff working at the facility includes: Nurses, social worker, dietitian, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist recreation therapist and a part time physician. The care provider I interviewed was the social worker. When asked about her role in the care team, the social worker stated that she was an advocate for the patients. In addition, the social worker coordinates care meetings with other professions and the families. Finally, she creates discharge and long term care plans for the residents. For a patient who has a short term stay, the social worker

The subject of my teaching project is a disease known as clostridium difficile or a disease more commonly known as c diff. The patient who was being taught, was a forty-three-year-old, white male, who had no previous exposure to clostridium difficile. When conducting the teaching, the patient had a couple of teaching points he needed to adopt into his care. When in the hospital, the patient should help with reminding healthcare workers and visitors about the importance of hand washing, and wearing gowns and gloves when in contact with said patient. If the patient was to be sent home, there were a few things to keep in mind. When at home the patient is less contagious when the diarrhea subsides however, the patient should still perform thorough hand hygiene as well as turning of the faucet in the bathroom with a paper towel to prevent spores from collecting on the surface.

Article I. The article published by Ivziku, Matarese, Pedone (2011) was a literature review to evaluate the predictive validity and inter-rater reliability of Hendrich fall risk model II (HFRM II).The literature focused on ways to identify older patients at risk of falling in geriatric units with the implementation of the HFRM II and recommend its use in clinical practice. A prospective descriptive design was used. The study was carried out in a geriatric acute care unit of an Italian University hospital. The patoients that were admitted to the geriatric unit were 65 in an Italian University hospital over 8-month period were enrolled. The patients enrolled were screened for the falls risk by nurses with the HFRM II within 24h of admission.

Professional and ethical accountability is an essential factor in the nursing profession and patient safety. As proposed by the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics requires that individual nurses take responsibility to one action to others (patients and family members, our profession, coworkers, workplace, and to oneself (Batti, & Steelman, 2014). Therefore, According to McCormick, (201) accountability is the basis in building trust, reducing fear, and enhancing morale and performant. Accountability depends on both effective communication skills and clinical expertise. It helps nurses to recognize breach in care that can adversely affect patient health outcome and be able to correct them on time. Therefore, the APRN should hold

During these past weeks at the Archbold ER, I had the opportunity to put into practice many of the content learned in class. This included but was not limited to the proper placement of a Foley catheter using sterile techniques, insertion of an NG tube, and assessment of patients. Even though I attempted to complete some of my initial goals for this internship, I noticed that I couldn’t complete a few of them due to lack of time and lack of experience in the field. Therefore, some of my goals that I’ll need to address during the following three weeks include improve my assessment skills, have better communication with my patients, and improve my questioning to get a better understanding of the cause that brought them in.

The literature review has been a very stressful and overwhelming process. If I were to do things differently next time, I would start this entire process earlier. Two weeks does not seem like nearly enough time to write a decent literature review when I am occupied with all my other classes as well as a job. It has been extremely challenging, because I have a literature review for another class due at the same time as well. If I were to give an incoming student advice about an assignment like this, I would advise them to start as early as possible. I started my research for the project soon after topics were assigned and still felt overwhelmed. Therefore, in order to ensure you are successful, start as soon as possible and break the paper down

Accepts responsibility for the quality of nursing care and delivers safe, compassionate nursing care using methodical process of assessment, analysis, planning, intervention, and evaluation that focusses on the needs and predilections of patients and their families. Incorporates professional standards and moral principles into nursing practice and provides care to patients and their families.