Health Care of the Older Adult by Brown Peter

Author:Brown Peter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction/General
ISBN: Health Care of the Older Adult
Publisher: Woodslane Press
Published: 2009-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Person-centred care and older adults

Older people are a vulnerable group in society. The ANMC Conduct Statement 8 describes the centrality of trusting relationships in nursing care and acknowledges the power differential between the nurse and the people in their care, in whichever health setting nurses practice. Many old people have undergone multiple losses, whether physical, emotional or cognitive, and as such are at risk of losing their self-identity and the ability and confidence to make their own health care decisions (Allan and Killick, 2008). This is more evident in the person experiencing a dementing illness but may also be seen in frail and isolated elderly and in older adults generally.

Commonly, throughout the nurses’ codes, the themes of respect and patients’ rights are emphasised. Key principles of personcentred care include acknowledging and respecting the uniqueness of the individual. This encompasses their social, psychological and physiological differences, and by upholding positive interactions and core practices of nurturing and advocacy, these fundamental rights will be acknowledged. Additionally, underlying principles in the New Zealand Ministry of Health Guidelines and Strategies (New Zealand Ministry of Health, 2004; 2002b) also dictate these core philosophies with a strong emphasis on restorative care and the empowerment of the older person to make well informed decisions.

The Best Practice Guidelines Project, Toronto, ‘Shaping the Future of Nursing’ (Registered Nurses Association of Toronto, 2002), defines person- or client-centred care as ‘an approach in which clients are viewed as whole persons; it is not merely about delivering services where the client is located. Client centre care involves advocacy, empowerment, and respecting the client’s autonomy, voice, self-determination, and participation in decision-making’. The key focus of the guideline is the promotion of independence and maximisation of health outcomes through empowerment and a psycho-social approach to care practices. This model is promoted through e-learning packages supported by the Registered Nurses Association, Toronto.

If nurses undertook to wholly embrace the professional codes of ethics and professional behaviour, contemporary health care practice that currently detracts from a patient’s personhood could be transformed to adopt practices that support a person’s rights, values, beliefs and abilities to make informed decisions that promote wellness. Furthermore, the concept of person-centred care should be moved beyond the focus of the delivery of best practice dementia care to accommodate all older people in our care.

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