GERIATRIC CARE-WHAT AND HOW?

What is Geriatric?

Geriatrics or geriatric medicine is a speciality that is based on improving health care for elderly people. It supports healthy improvement in older adults by preventing and treating disease and disability that often comes with ageing. Geriatric nursing involves catering help to older adults at their home, hospital or special institutions like the nursing home, psychiatric institution etc.

Aim of providing geriatric care is the following –

• Maintenance of healthy function
• Detecting severe disease at an early stage
• Prevention of deterioration of an existing health problem

What is involved in Geriatric Care?

It’s common to get confused with what geriatric care proposes to help with older adults. Geriatric care is a specialised care type that’s focused only on older adults.

Here’s what it comprised of –

• Consider patients preferences and their needs.
• Be kind, patient, and sympathetic towards them. Communicate with each other on a friendly level while showing respect to their feelings.
• Support their decision-making skill and encourage them for independence in making choices for themselves.
• Help adults to achieve emotional stability. On overcoming emotional blockage and expressing themselves to their loved ones.
• Stimulate mental acuity and sensory input and physical activity to uplift their mood, self-esteem, and confidence.
• Make the elders feel homely at their home. Help them stay lively and happily involved with the family members.
• Offer diversion/ occupational therapy.
• Maintain privacy. Make them feel safe and secure to openly talk about their physical and emotional needs.
• Handle them gently.
• Offer utmost comfort with the facilities you provide such as a comfortable bed, clean bed sheet, dry bed that’s smooth and unwrinkled. Keep their surroundings neat, clean and fresh.
• Teach and encourage them to maintain body hygiene thus regulate body temperature.
• Assist them for taking care of their vision, auditory and dental aid.
• Prevent them from any risk of injuries, falls and accidents. Provide a much safer surrounding.
• Ensure a healthy, and nutritional meal.
• Facilitate elimination. Support them in maintaining external genitalia hygiene.
• Support them in participating in active range of motion exercise for maintaining body alignment and posture. Ensure 100% mobility.
• Help them achieve a healthy sleeping pattern.
• Caution elders from any type of drug use.
• Get them a routine physical checkup to avoid any problem.
• Closely observe any psychophysical changes in their body and behaviour.

Conclusion

With increasing age, the number of people living well past 80 grows in turn growing the need for those with an aging expertise. Gerontology nurses are nurses who specialize in gerontology and work in many different settings including private practices, personal homes, and nursing homes. These nurses specialise in geriatric care and geriatric medicine both to provide the older adults with specialized care and geriatric nursing and a high quality of life.

Functionally and cognitively fit elderly individuals maintain physical and mental fitness, allowing for independence and, in some cases, the ability to work and earn. Their main concern centers on the need for increased health promotional activities, such as geriatric medicine, nutrition, physical activity, social contact, psychological support, and brain-stimulating activities.

Elderly individuals with mild functional or cognitive impairments, typically aged 70–80 years, require assisted living support. They often need geriatric care services like Meals on Wheels, special transportation, assistance for hospital visits, or physical rehabilitation support.

Due to their extensive healthcare needs, these individuals benefit from specialized geriatric clinics for comprehensive assessment and rehabilitation. Additional supports like physiotherapy, psychological assistance, and ongoing medical care are crucial. In cases of functional or cognitive decline, hospitalization and full-time geriatric nursing may become necessary.

Elderly people with severe functional or cognitive limitations are prime candidates for home-based geriatric care or hospice care. Training family members in caregiving is vital, and hiring trained home care providers for geriatric nursing is often essential. These individuals require home health care programs with doctors, geriatric medicine specialists, nurses, physiotherapists, laboratory services, and pharmacy services.

Emoha Elder Care Services

Emoha Elder Care offers comprehensive home health care services for the elderly, with nurses specialized in geriatric nursing and geriatric medicine. This ensures that the elderly live independently with assistance, providing palliative care and geriatric nursing. Our care angels (nurses) are trained to keep the elderly comfortable in their own homes or hospices, ensuring they receive the best possible care. Contact us today and book our services.

For more information, please visit www.emoha.com or call us on 1800-123-44-5555

What to do next

1. Ask your doctor whether a geriatric assessment would help, especially after falls, memory change, many medicines or hospital stays. 2. Prepare for the visit: a medicine list, past reports, a note of symptoms and a list of daily abilities. 3. Expect a wide review: health, medicines, mobility, mood, memory, nutrition, hearing, vision, home safety and support. 4. Agree a plan with goals and who does what. 5. Review regularly, at least yearly.

See setting up a weekly medicine box and managing multiple medicines.

When to ask a professional

A geriatrician or a doctor trained in older people's care leads this process, with nurses, physiotherapists and others.