Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
Nursing homes have become a viable option for geriatric patients who require routine care and need help performing basic activities of daily living, with about 3.3 million patients residing in nursing homes in the United States (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2013). Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper While nursing homes provide care and services to patients, problems can arise resulting in reduced quality of care and, in some cases, illness and morbidity. The severe implications of pressure ulcers make them a major concern for elders residing in nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2013) estimate that 7.5% of nursing home residents have pressure ulcers and about 82,000 patients develop them each year. In your role as the advanced practice nurse, you must understand factors that contribute to the incidence of pressure ulcers in order to improve patient outcomes. For this Discussion, you examine the prevalence of pressure ulcers in nursing homes and develop strategies for increasing awareness and reducing incidence.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
To prepare for Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities:
Review Chapter 38 of the Flaherty and Resnick text and Chapter 12 of the Holroyd-Leduc and Reddy text.
Select four nursing homes in your community and/or neighboring communities. Research and locate reports on these nursing homes through organizations such as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
Compare the four nursing homes you selected based on reported cases of the development of new pressure ulcers.
Think about factors in the nursing home setting that contribute to pressure ulcer issues, such as patient activity, nutrition, or the number of staff available to care for patients.
Research guidelines for the prevention of pressure ulcers. Think about how you might increase awareness among nursing home staff about the incidence and consequences of pressure ulcers in patients.
Post on or before Day 3 a brief description of the four nursing homes you selected from your community and/or neighboring communities.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper Compare these four nursing homes based on the reported cases of new pressure ulcers. Then, explain factors in the nursing home setting that might contribute to incidence of pressure ulcer issues. Finally, based on guidelines for the prevention of pressure ulcers, explain how you might increase awareness among nursing home staff about the incidence and consequences of pressure ulcers in patients.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses on Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities.
Respond on or before Day 6 to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one or more of the ways listed below. Respond to colleagues who selected different nursing homes than you did.
Offer and support an alternative perspective based on your own experience and additional literature search.
Validate an idea with your own experience and additional literature search.
What Is a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC)?
Today’s seniors have access to more types of care than ever – and that’s a good thing. CCRCs are one of the most ideal types for those who want as close to a home setting as they can get. This is a form of independent living, but it also incorporates part skilled nursing care and assisted living services. These locations vary to some degree, though. Some offer a tiered program where the amount and type of services desired are obtained.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper If an individual needs more services over the long term, they can obtain them.
Perhaps the most desirable component of a CCRC is that healthy adults can live within these communities in a single-family home or apartment. Some are condo developments. They live independently as long as they want to or can. This creates a high level of independence and quality of life. Over time, when they begin to need help, it is there for them. They may move to an assisted living or skilled nursing area as their needs change.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
CCRCs give seniors the ability to live within the same community through their life. Adults remain comfortable and familiar with the people, surroundings, and the services. They maintain the same quality of life, activities, and interactions with their neighbors. Again, this improves quality of life and directly helps seniors to feel more comfortable and at ease. It also helps family members to know their loved one isn’t moving from one location to the next and is maintaining the same level of care.
Services offered include health services, meals, personal care, housekeeping, transportation, and emergency help. In addition, the communities are chock full of social and educational activities.
Because CCRCs are an “all-in-one”, there is a greater level of comfort for residents. And children of the parents enjoy a greater peace of mind knowing that all their parents’ needs from housekeeping to medical care are taken care of.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
How Are CCRCs Different Than Other Retirement Options?
The most important difference here is that CCRCs recognize that many seniors want to live as independently as they have the rest of their life. For example, a senior may find himself living alone after a spouse dies. He or she still can perform the necessary tasks of living on his own but is alone most of the time. To remedy this, the individual can move into the independent living component of a CCRC. There, he or she can maintain the same hobbies and interests enjoyed previously but nearby to those who can help when there is a need. They get to know the area, the people, and their neighbors.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
As that senior gets older, he or she may find that tasks like cutting the grass or mopping the floors are a bit too hard to do. This is when moving into or utilizing the assisted living components of the CCRC becomes necessary. Unlike in a traditional assisted living community, the senior already knows the community and the people. He or she is not moving away from the same community into a new one, just into a different area (in some cases) or getting a bit more help when they need it.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper
And, when there is a need, seniors are then able to move into the onsite nursing facility component. Again, they maintain the same quality of life and stay in familiar areas. This improves the overall quality of life.
Overall, this type of location offers customizable services to fit the needs of the individual at that point in their life. This ensures the very best level of care is always available when there is a need.Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities Research Paper