Care for the Elderly Analysis

The nurse plays an essential role in helping the elderly at home since she is a qualified professional who knows how to carry out daily and therapeutic activities correctly. The specialist feeds patients, changes linen, and conducts sanitary and hygienic measures. She can help relatives by advising on care and medication. For example, a nurse can teach one how to wash an older person who is not walking properly. Further, the health worker provides psychological support because people find it morally difficult to cope with caring. The nurse registers the general condition and, if necessary, seeks the help of a doctor to correct the treatment. The specialist provides tremendous support to the patient and his family, without which many could not cope.

There are several reasons for initiating home-based services that can be difficult for the patient and caregiver to deal with. The first is medical insurance because there may be problems with the correctness of filling out the paperwork and convincing the insurance company of the need for home care. The second is the patient’s opinion because the elderly may prefer to stay in the hospital. The problem for doctors is the need to send workers home and take into account additional factors of influence in other conditions. The fourth obstacle is the lack of infrastructure to treat critically ill patients on their own. The fifth point is human safety since living conditions may not meet the doctor’s prescriptions. The latter reason is considered to be unclear activities regulation of medical workers, resulting in which this affects safety.

Living in urban areas provides better patient care opportunities while urban residents live in more developed infrastructure. In rural areas, nurses must consider the belief systems and lifestyles of the agricultural population when planning, implementing and evaluating public services (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2016). Additionally, in rural areas, the availability of medical services is low since residents have to get more than 30 minutes to a health care provider.

Reference

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2016). Public health nursing: Population-Centered health care in the community (9th ed.). Elsevier Mosby.