scholarly journals Nurse-Patient Interaction: A Vital Salutogenic Resource in Nursing Home Care

Author(s):  
Gørill Haugan

AbstractWe are now witnessing a major change in the world’s population. Many people globally grow very old: 80, 90, and 100 years. Increased age is followed by an increased incidence of functional and chronic comorbidities and diverse disabilities, which for many leads to the need for long-term care in a nursing home. Quality of life and health promotive initiatives for older persons living in nursing homes will become ever more important in the years to come. Therefore, this chapter focuses on health promotion among older adults living in nursing homes. First, this chapter clarifies the concepts of health, salutogenesis, and pathogenesis, followed by knowledge about health promotion. Then insight and knowledge about the nursing home population is provided; what promotes health and well-being in nursing home residents?Health promotion in the health services should be based on integrated knowledge of salutogenesis and pathogenesis. The salutogenic understanding of health is holistic and considers man as a wholeness including physical, mental, social, and spiritual/existential dimensions. Research indicates that various health-promoting interventions, specifically the nurse–patient interaction, influence on older adults in nursing homes as a wholeness of body–soul–spirit, affecting the whole being. Hence, dimensions such as pain, fatigue, dyspnea, nausea, loneliness, anxiety, and depressive symptoms will be influenced through health-promoting approaches. Therefore, two separate studies on the health-promoting influences of nurse–patient interaction in nursing home residents were conducted. In total, nine hypotheses of directional influence of the nurse–patient interaction were tested, all of which finding support.Along with competence in pain and symptom management, health-promoting nurse–patient interaction based on awareness and attentional skills is essential in nursing home care. Thus, health care workers should be given the opportunity to further develop their knowledge and relational skills, in order to “refine” their way of being present together with residents in nursing homes. Health professionals’ competence involves the “being in the doing”; that is, both the doing and the way of being are essential in health and nursing care.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gørill Haugan ◽  
Britt Moene Kuven ◽  
Wenche Mjanger Eide ◽  
Siw Eriksen Tåsen ◽  
Eva Rinnan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background. Today, we face a shift to an older population worldwide and its consequences; a noteworthy part of older adults will need 24-hours nursing home care at the end of life. Finding new and alternative approaches to increase wellbeing among nursing home residents is highly warranted. Knowledge about nurse-patient-interaction, self-transcendence and meaning-in-life seems vital in order to guide clinical practice in how to best and efficiently boost wellbeing among older adults in nursing homes. Methods In a cross-sectional design, 188 (92% response rate) out of 204 long-term NH patients representing 27 NHs responded to the nurse-patient interaction, self-transcendence, and the purpose-and-meaning-in-life scales. Inclusion criteria were: (1) municipality authority’s decision of long-term NH care; (2) residential time three months or longer; (3) informed consent competency recognized by responsible doctor and nurse; and (4) capable of being interviewed. The hypothesized relations (five hypotheses) between the latent constructs were tested by means of structural equation modelling (SEM) using Stata 15.1. Results The SEM-model yielded a good fit (χ2=146.824, p=0.021, df=114, χ2 /df=1.29 RMSEA=0.040, p-close 0.811, CFI=0.97, TLI=0.96, and SRMR=0.063), showing significant relationships between the constructs of nurse-patient interaction, inter- and intra-personal self-transcendence and meaning-in-life. Nurse-patient interaction significantly relates with both inter- and intra-personal self-transcendence and meaning in NH patients. Self-transcendence revealed a fundamental influence on perceived meaning, while nurse-patient interaction demonstrated a significant influence on meaning, mediated by self-transcendence Conclusion According to the rapidly growing number of people over 65 in the world, and the growing segment of people 80-100, the present results are significant in their suggestions that nurse-patient-interaction is a crucial resource in relation to nursing home residents’ wellbeing. Knowledge of how nurse-patient-interaction, self-transcendence and meaning relate to each other among older adults in NHs is important for researchers, nurses, caregivers, nursing educators, and clinicians. Health professionals in nursing homes should learn how to competently use the nurse-patient interaction as a health promoting asset for self-transcendence, meaning and thus well-being. Nursing home nurses should be given more time for interacting with the residents, continuity and mutuality in nurse-patient relationships should be prioritized and facilitated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy L. Marihart ◽  
Ardith R. Brunt ◽  
Angela A. Geraci

This article provides a commentary on the costs of obese nursing home patients. We conducted a comprehensive literature search, which found 46 relevant articles on obesity in older adults and effects on nursing home facilities. This review indicated obesity is increasing globally for all age groups and older adults are facing increased challenges with chronic diseases associated with obesity more than ever before. With medical advances comes greater life expectancy, but obese adults often experience more disabilities, which require nursing home care. In the United States, the prevalence of obesity in adults aged 60 years and older increased from 9.9 million (23.6%) to 22.2 million (37.0%) in 2010. Obese older adults are twice as likely to be admitted to a nursing home. Many obese adults have comorbidities such as Type 2 diabetes; patients with diabetes incurred 1 in every 4 nursing home days. Besides the costs of early entrance into nursing facilities, caring for obese residents is different than caring for nonobese residents. Obese residents have more care needs for additional equipment, supplies, and staff costs. Unlike emergency rooms and hospitals, nursing homes do not have federal requirements that require them to serve all patients. Currently, some nursing homes are not prepared to deal with very obese patients. This is a public health concern because there are more obese people than ever in history before and the future appears to have even a heavier generation moving forward. Policymakers need to become aware of this serious gap in nursing home care.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susann May ◽  
Kai Jonas ◽  
Thomas Zahn ◽  
Martin Heinze ◽  
Felix Mühlensiepen

Abstract BackgroundTelemedical care of nursing home residents in Germany, especially in rural areas, is limited to a few pilot projects and is rarely implemented as part of standard care. The possible merits of implementing video consultations in longer-term nursing care currently lack supporting evidence. In particular, there is little documentation of experiences and knowledge about the effects and potential benefits of the implementation in presently existing structures. ObjectiveThe goal was to assess the effect of implement medical video consultations into nursing home care addressing the following research questions:- How is medical care currently provided to nursing home residents, and where do problems in its implementation arise? - How can video consultations be used to reduce difficulties arising in everyday care? - How does implementation of video consultations impact day-to-day nursing home care delivery?MethodsTwenty-one guided interviews (pre-implementation n=13; post-implementation n=8) were conducted with a total of 13 participants (physicians, nurses and medical technical assistants). Narratives were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results were contrasted in a pre-post analysis.ResultsChallenges described by the participants before implementation included a requirement for additional organisational and administrative efforts, interruptions in the daily care routine or delayed treatments, and risk for loss of patient-relevant information due to process diversity. After implementation, communication was facilitated upon introduction of assigned time slots for video consultations. Clinical information was less likely to be lost, additional work was spared, and medication and therapeutic and assistive devices were provided more quickly.ConclusionsTelehealth cannot replace physical, in-person visits, but does offer an alternative form of service delivery when properly integrated into existing structures. Our results suggest that the use of video consultations in nursing homes can reduce the burden and additional workload, and increase the efficiency of care provision for nursing home residents. Video consultations can complement in-person visits to nursing homes, especially to address the shortage of medical specialists in rural areas in Germany. To promote implementation and acceptance of video consultation in nursing homes, we need to increase awareness of its benefits and undertake further evaluation of video consultations in nursing home care.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
T. Majic ◽  
J.-P. Pluta ◽  
T. Mell ◽  
A. Decker ◽  
A. Heinz ◽  
...  

Background:Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) include agitation, apathy, hallucinations, and depression. These symptoms are a challenge to professional nursing care, resulting in frequent psychiatric hospitalization, which incur high costs to the national healthcare systems.Objective:To estimate the prevalence of BPSD in nursing home residents in 16 representative nursing homes in Berlin, Germany.Methods:In a cross-sectional clustered cohort study, BPSD were assessed using the Dementia Mood Assessment Scale (DMAS), the Neuropsychiatric Inventary (NPI) and the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI). Dementia stage severity was measured by Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) and the Mini-Mnetals State Examination (MMSE). Furthermore, the patients" history recording psychotropics and number of psychiatric hospitalizations were registered. The prevalence and incidence rates of BPSD as well the duration of hospitalization and the quantity of drug prescription were estimated.Results:BPSD are common above all in nursing home residents with dementia, exhibiting prevalence rates of above 60% of all nursing home residents suffering from dementia. The severity of BPSD was related to number of psychiatric hospitalizations, the amount of psychotropics prescribed, and caregiver burden (p < .05).Conclusion:The high prevalence rate of BPSD reflects a significant problem in nursing home care, and is related to negative health outcomes and caregiver burden. Thus, nursing home care could be improved by minimizing the severity of BPSD, as well as the amount of drugs prescribed and the frequency of demented patients" hospitalization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susann May ◽  
Kai Jonas ◽  
Georgia V. Fehler ◽  
Thomas Zahn ◽  
Martin Heinze ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Telemedical care of nursing home residents in Germany, especially in rural areas, is limited to a few pilot projects and is rarely implemented as part of standard care. The possible merits of implementing video consultations in longer-term nursing care currently lack supporting evidence. In particular, there is little documentation of experiences and knowledge about the effects and potential benefits of the implementation in presently existing structures. The goal was to assess the effect of implementing medical video consultations into nursing home care addressing the following research questions: How is medical care currently provided to nursing home residents, and where do problems in its implementation arise? How can video consultations be used to reduce difficulties arising in everyday care? How does implementation of video consultations impact day-to-day nursing home care delivery? Methods Twenty-one guided interviews (pre-implementation n = 13; post-implementation n = 8) were conducted with a total of 13 participants (physicians, nurses and medical technical assistants). Narratives were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results were contrasted in a pre-post analysis. Results Challenges described by the participants before implementation included a requirement for additional organisational and administrative efforts, interruptions in the daily care routine or delayed treatments, and risk for loss of patient-relevant information due to process diversity. After implementation, communication was facilitated upon introduction of assigned time slots for video consultations. Clinical information was less likely to be lost, additional work was spared, and medication and therapeutic and assistive devices were provided more quickly. Conclusions Telehealth cannot replace physical, in-person visits, but does offer an alternative form of service delivery when properly integrated into existing structures. Our results suggest that the use of video consultations in nursing homes can reduce the burden and additional workload, and increase the efficiency of care provision for nursing home residents. Video consultations can complement in-person visits to nursing homes, especially to address the shortage of medical specialists in rural areas in Germany. To promote implementation and acceptance of video consultation in nursing homes, we need to increase awareness of its benefits and undertake further evaluation of video consultations in nursing home care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 385-385
Author(s):  
Xiuyan Lan ◽  
Huimin Xiao ◽  
Ying Chen

Abstract This study aimed to elicit psychosocial reactions to relocation to nursing homes from older adults’ perspectives with a qualitative interview design. Narratives from 23 Chinese nursing home residents from Fuzhou, China in a life review program were recorded, transcribed into sentences, and analyzed with the qualitative content analysis. It revealed five stages of psychosocial reactions to relocation to nursing homes as fear, struggle, compromise, acceptance, and contribution. The first stage resulted from negative labels attached to nursing homes, disconnection to the society, difficulties in establishing new relationships, and being abandoned by their families. The second stage described the behaviors of struggle: complain about family members, think of going back home, pray to have a change, and take action to leave. The third stage described the keys to compromise: choices between maintaining the harmony in family relation and companionship of relatives, choices between professional care and family care, and choices between costs and effects of family care and nursing home care. The fourth stage described how they accept nursing home life: accept the life and yet with worries, affirm benefits of living in nursing homes, and embrace the nursing home life. The last stage resulted from sense of ownership and giving full play to self-worth. This study generated new insights into the knowledge on psychosocial reactions to relocation to nursing homes and provided both family members and nursing home staff with a direction for how to promote a smoother relocation process.


Dementia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 147130122110126
Author(s):  
Alexandra E Harper ◽  
Lauren Terhorst ◽  
Marybeth Moscirella ◽  
Rose L Turner ◽  
Catherine V Piersol ◽  
...  

Background Person-centered care has been shown to increase desired outcomes for people with dementia, yet informal caregivers’ dissatisfaction with care is often reported. For those living in a nursing home, informal caregivers are uniquely situated to provide key insights into the individual’s care. However, little is known of the informal caregivers’ perspective, which hinders efforts to improve their satisfaction with person-centered nursing home care. Thus, we examined the comprehensive experiences, priorities, and perceptions of informal caregivers of nursing home residents with dementia. Methods In collaboration with stakeholders, a scoping review of Medline (Ovid), EMBASE.com , CINAHL (EBSCO), the Cochrane Library (Wiley), and PsycINFO (Ovid) databases from January 2000 to July 2020 was conducted. Data were extracted reflecting the experiences, priorities, and preferences of caregivers of people with dementia residing in nursing homes. Results We identified 114 articles that revealed nine themes: (1) communication, (2) transition to nursing home, (3) quality of care, (4) quality of life, (5) informal caregiver role, (6) knowledge of dementia, (7) end-of-life preferences, (8) medication use to manage neuropsychiatric behaviors, and (9) finances. Conclusion Informal caregivers described aspects of care that led to both positive and negative experiences with and perceptions of nursing home care. The shortcomings in communication were discussed most frequently, indicating a high priority area. While researchers define the identified themes individually, informal caregivers perceive them to be interwoven as they relate to person-centered care delivery. Although we did not assess the quality of included articles, by identifying themes relevant to caregivers’ perspectives of nursing home care, our findings may help to inform efforts to optimize caregivers’ satisfaction with nursing home care for residents with dementia.


Author(s):  
Anne-S. Helvik

AbstractThe population of older adults (≥60 years) is currently growing. Thus, in the years to come it is expected that a high proportion of patients hospitalized will be in the older age range. In western countries, the proportion of older inpatients is about 40% in the medical and surgical hospitals units. Older people with illness is vulnerable to both physical and cognitive impairments as well as depression. Therefore, a health-promoting perspective and approach are highly warranted in clinical nursing care of older adults in medical hospitals. This chapter focuses on health promotion related to depressive symptoms, impairment in activities of daily living, and cognitive impairment in older hospitalized adults.


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