Exploring the Advantages of Older People Living in Their Own Homes
The majority of older Australian’s continue to live in their own homes, with or without support. Discuss 2 advantages and 2 challenges of older people remaining in their own home.
Advantages
1. When most people reach their retirement age, they tend to focus on their talents and passion, since they did not have time to focus them in their early and middle years. Staying in their own homes, gives them a peaceful and serene environment for working o without any distractions. These crafty talents include; weaving and beading. They are also able to pocket a few coins out of these handy skills and it becomes a getaway for their boredom and keeps them busy.
2. Elderly people prefer making their own decisions by themselves. It gives them satisfaction to come up with own ideas and implement them without necessarily depending on their children or other people. Staying in their own homes gives them the freedom to decide what works best for them, and applying it in their lives.
Challenges
1. Research has shown that most people living on their own in the rural homes tend to be lonely because they are unable to reconnect with people in the urban centers. They are left behind in current affairs around the globe. Some of them live alone without company and this brings about depression eventually causing them to have suicidal thoughts.
2. It is well known that old age comes with chronic and terminal diseases. Staying in their own homes, poses a great challenges since they lack carers to show concern for them. Some of them cannot afford the devices that come with technologies in IoT and are thus left to helplessly suffer and go through the pain that comes with the ailments thus reducing their lifespan.
2. The My Aged Care website https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/ is a central repository for information about aged care services in Australia. Discuss how an older person can find out about services available through My Aged Care.
My Aged Care is a portal where clients and carers, who may act as representatives of clients, use to access medical healthcare. It comes with a user guide that helps clients who may have difficulties with getting services at myagedcare. It has various portals where a client can choose the services they wish to take. It however differentiates those who have registered as clients and those who have nit as consumers. After one registers, they are able to access al services available in the portal, since their profile will be updated. There are various functions available in the portal such as the “profile” which sets out all the details of the clients. Other functions are such as “relationships” that shows the people who shall take care of your needs; “plans” to show all the plans that have been set out to cater for all your needs. “Services” show the kind of services one is receiving with myagedcare and “myagedcare” shows the type of assistance one has received. Myagedcare is aware of elderly patients who are not able to operate the portal on their own and thus they allow carers to use the portal on their behalf. It is advisable that old patients register so that they can receive services while at home
Challenges Faced by Older People Living at Home
View video https://youtu.be/qJ6I_gwJx9Mwhere Ray talks about attending the men’s shed. How would attending a meaningful leisure activity, such as the men’s shed, enhance the physical and psychological health of older men?
Attending such activities has proven to be of great benefit to old men. These leisure activities have tremendously increased the mobility of these old folks making them become immune to several illnesses. They are also able to develop positive relationships with their acquaintances when they go for these activities. They are also able to widen their social interactions; hence they are not able to stay at home lonely. With this, they are also able to talk and relate with each other about their current situations. Old age comes with loss of memory, however leisure activities come in handy to help older men have a good memory, since they take part in various activities some of which exercise the brain. It is also through such team building activities that community education takes place. Most of these old men are taught how to manage their health in better ways and generally how they can take care of themselves. These activities also help to reduce pain, since amongst the various types of pain; there are those that are caused as a result of decreased mobility. As they take part in these physical activities, their bones become strong and there is increased body movement and thus reduce pain.
4. What age-related changes contribute to increased risk of constipation? What strategies can the nurse use to assess, prevent and manage constipation?
The main age related changes that contribute to high risks of constipation are medications that old people take as a result of other illnesses, underlying ailments, decreased movement as a result of their weak bodies, a modified diet as well as rectal sensory – motor dysfunction.
There are several strategies that nurses use in managing constipation, however they feel challenged at times since it does not result from one cause. Nurses begin by doing a psychological bowel history and a rectal examination immediately so as to know the main cause for the constipation. They then proceed to administering the drugs so as to provide an immediate solution. After this process, nurses have a duty to take care of their patients while they are in hospital. They wheel them to washrooms and ensure they sit on the bowl properly. They ensure that their diet is filled with high fibres of at least 18 grams a day. They also ensure that the elderly patients have a lot of fluid intake, especially those with dehydration. Elderly people are also advised to take part in physical activity since bed rest leads to decreased mobility thus bringing about dysfunctioning of many body parts. Lastly, nurses recommend that a combination of stimulant laxatives and osmotic agents to manage constipation, however, the osmotic agents come with a lot of fluid intake.
Finding Services through My Aged Care
Discuss the difficulty attracting graduate health professionals in aged care in Australia, using current literature to support your response. Identify strategies that could be enacted to overcome this challenge.
Drawbacks graduate health professionals face in aged care in Australia
Most of the graduate health professionals tend to flee from specializing in age care in Australia as a result of various reasons such as; low income, poor working conditions especially in rural areas and lack of career paths and professional development opportunities in the bucolic areas. These young graduates also view aged care practice as poor sector when it comes to reputation, since it is not as attractive as other areas of practice. They also complain of long working hours with a lot of strenuous activity since elderly persons require a lot of care and attention. Lastly, they criticize the high client – staff ratios, since it comes with a lot of demanding work.
Strategies that can be used to overcome this challenge.
Various organizations have come up with solutions that have attracted very many young graduates to this practice. Horton House and Washington Lodge; being a community based facility is offering $ 5000 dollars sponsorship to year 2 learner nurses from the Australian Catholic University. For one to qualify; they hey have to have aged care as an elective and once they are done, they work for the facility for at least twelve months.
The government can as well give allowances to nurses working in hardship areas, create awareness on IoT in healthcare, fund organizations that are involved in taking care of the elderly and also increase the rates of remuneration for such nurses.
Reference List
Aoun, S., Deas, K. and Skett, K. (2015). Older people living alone at home with terminal cancer. European Journal of Cancer Care, 25(3), pp.356-364.
Cessieux E, W. (2015). Managing constipation in older people in hospital. Nursing Times, 111(22), pp.19-21.
De Giorgio, R., Ruggeri, E., Stanghellini, V., Eusebi, L., Bazzoli, F. and Chiarioni, G. (2015). Chronic constipation in the elderly: a primer for the gastroenterologist. BMC Gastroenterology, 15(1).
Esain, I., Gil, S., Bidaurrazaga-Letona, I. and Rodriguez-Larrad, A. (2018). Effects of 3 months of detraining on functional fitness and quality of life in older adults who regularly exercise. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research.
Green, D. and Martin, D. (2016). Maintaining the Healthy Country–Healthy People Nexus through Sociocultural and Environmental Transformations: challenges for the Wik Aboriginal people of Aurukun, Australia. Australian Geographer, 48(3), pp.285-309.
How to Use the My Aged Care Client Portal. (2017). myagedcare, pp.1-26.
Ryu,J. and Heo, J. (2017). Relationships between leisure activity types and well being in older adults. Leisure Studies.37(3), pp. 331 – 342
Wilson, M., Kurrle, S. and Wilson, I. (2018). Medical student attitudes towards older people: a critical review of quantitative measures. BMC Research Notes, 11(1).
Esain, I., Gil, S., Bidaurrazaga-Letona, I. and Rodriguez-Larrad, A. (2018). Effects of 3 months of detraining on functional fitness and quality of life in older adults who regularly exercise. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
