Home Care Of The Elderly

In this article, we are going to be talking about the care of the elderly in the homes.

Home care nursing consist of principles  of nursing practice that are both old and new. It is old in Africa, Asia and Latin America where there are cultural provisions for the elderly, but new in developed countries where people are too busy to take care of the elderly.

Home care nursing is the delivery of quality nursing care to patients in their homes environment on intermittent or part-time bases. The cooperation of the elderly and their caregivers and the determination for optimal health are of importance to achieving successful self-care management at home.

Health Maintenance and Promotion In The Elderly

Health maintenance and promotion in inn elderly is the overall goal of geriatric nursing. With health maintenance and promotion, causes of death and disabilities can be easily recognized early.

The goal of health maintenance and promotion in the elderly is to

• Prolong the period of optimum physical , mental and social activities.
• Maximize handicapping and discomfort from the onset of chronic conditions
• Prepare in advance for retirement
• To prolong the period of effective activity and ability to live independently and to avoid institutionalization as far as possible
• Minimize discomfort from chronic conditions.
• When the illness is terminal, to assure as little physical and mental distress as possible and to provide emotional support to patient and family.

Preventive Activities In The Care Of The Elderly

There are three type of preventive activities in the care of the elderly;

1. Primary Prevention

This type of prevention attempts to keep a disease condition from occurring. Activities here include;

• health education and promotion
• teaching and encouraging healthy habit such as regular exercise, use of automobile seat belts, avoidance of cigarettes

2. Secondary Prevention

This include asymptomatic early stage which allows the treatment to reduce disease condition,its progression and complication. Activities here include;;

• History taking
• Physical examination
• Running of tests

3. Tertiary Prevention

This is the detection of the symptomatic but unreported disease condition, their complication and management to prevent further suffering or functional decline.

Read Also: Ethical Consideration In Care of The Elderly

The Role  of A Nurse in Home Care of The Elderly

A home care nurse functions as a case manager through a multidisciplinary approach. They help to formulate the care plan based on the nursing process of assessment, diagnoses, planning, implementation and evaluation.

The role of a nurse include;

• Providing health rehabilitative therapies to help improve health promotional behaviours.
• Educating the patient and caregiver about the illness or disability and mutually identify health care needs.
• Developing patient and caregiver competence, decision making and judgement in the self care management at home.
• Reintegrating the patient and care giver back into the family, community and social support system.

The role of The Family In the Care Of Elderly

In the home, the elderly must be viewed as a member of the family. Members of the family must be heavily involved in planning and care of the patient. This will help the family to get the basic knowledge, skills and encouragement that are needed for the extended period of care .

The sole objective of home care nursing of the elderly is to maintain the elderly at home for as long as is consistent with hi/her own health and happiness and the well being of his relatives. When this no longer possible, hospital resources would be used.

The care given to the elderly at home depends greatly on the willingness of the family to cooperate in achieving a quality life that is acceptable to the elderly in particular and the society in general.

In order to help the family members to cooperate with the care, the characteristics of the elderly must be explained to the family members. Some of these characteristics include;

• Elderly persons are very slow in carrying out all their activities of daily living, any effort to quicken their activities is met with resistance.
• They always try as much as possible to claim independence from the family members even where it is well known that he/she has a high level of dependency due to illness and disability.
• Provision of safety environment is of cardinal importance in the home care of the elderly. This is to prevent accident due to ongoing body system.
• In modern time the elderly suffer for social isolation. In order to prevent this social isolation, the family members should know that the elderly should be included in all the social activities of the families as much as their health can permit.
• The elderly may never complain of any problem or when they complain, they try to play it down. So any complain made by an elderly should be investigated. Their health conditions can change very fast.
• The elderly love to be respected in all ramifications.
• The care of the  elderly requires interdisciplinary actions and the financial burden is carried by the family.

Below Are The Role of The Family  in the nursing care of elderly patient

• The family should aid in providing physical comfort which may include helping the elderly met the needs of activities of daily living . This include daily bath, oral care and other body grooms. This comfort provided to the elderly enhances his/her living, sleeping, cooking, laundering activities and much more.
• The family provides an environment that is handicap friendly with regard to the elderly person’s disability. Environmental adjustment includes provision of physical structures that enhances the comfort of the client.
• The family should make specific effort to involve the elderly in the family social activities. The involvement should depend on the ability of the elderly. Where applicable, the elderly should be encourage to be involved in religious activities.
• The first member of the health team to notice that the elderly is sick is the family members. The family members usually provide the initial care before calling the attention of the nurse and others that are involved in the care. The family members should be educated on the health problems of the elderly.
• The family should provide sensory stimulation to the elderly in other to promote mental activities. This contributes to the feeling of well-being. The family must consider intellectual and recreational needs of the individual. This will create interest in living and add meaning to life beyond physical existence. There should be balance between shared activities and individual activities.
• The family play significant role in rehabilitation of elderly. The family helps in speech therapy and physiotherapy.

Infection Control in The Home Care of The Elderly

The universal precautions stipulate the general guideline for infection control in the home care in general. These guidelines are designed to reduce the transmission of blood born and other pathogens and apply to all patient regardless of their diagnosis. These guidelines reinforce the idea that all body substances can be a source of infection. They contain recommendation to prevent droplet, direct or indirect contact and true airborne transmission of infectious diseases.

These precautions include;

• Hand should be washed with soap and water before and after contact with the patient.
• Wear gloves if there is a possibility of infection transmission.
• Wear disposable face mask whenever there is reasonable expectation that droplet infection transmission may occur.
• Sharp objects and needles should be place in protective disposable container that can be sealed with lid.
• Wear gloves when handling specimen and handle all specimen carefully to minimize spillage.
• Clean all equipment thoroughly to remove organic materials before disinfection and sterilization.
• Although home care nurses should primarily use aseptic technique when performing most procedures, clean techniques are also taught to the caregiver adequately to help manage infectious disease at home.
• Encourage daily cleaning of the room. Trash container should be washed with soap and water daily. The room should be well ventilated with enough light.
• The elderly should be taught to wash their hands with soap and water after using the restrooms, and before eating.
• Maintain health at high level by eating a balanced diet and getting adequate amount of sleep, rest and sunshine, fresh air and exercise.

We hope this information was helpful. Feel free to ask your questions in the comment section below.