Weekly reflection # 6
Nowadays, the percentage of older people residing in
nursing homes increases as people’s age increase. Nursing home care is less expensive compared
to hospital care (Cowles, 2003). Nursing home facilities are sterile
environments, but needed more quality of care like most hospitals. Olson mentions that many nursing homes provide
inadequate rehabilitative services, mental health assessment and treatment
services, meaningful social activities, or effort to encourage decision making
by the residents (1994), and most of the care is provided by people with little
or no training. Because the providing
pain relief is a basic service of caring, patients and family members should
inquiry about the policy of pain in nursing homes. Also, social workers need to be aware of the
clients’ transitions, and situations that are at high risk for trauma.
It is interesting to learn about the race and
ethnicity in nursing home service. Racial
discrimination in health care facilities was terminated only about 50 years ago
along with the passage of Medicare and Medicaid (Cowels, 2003). Therefore, Freed says that social workers in
health care need to be careful about their clients’ race and cultural
traditions (1990). Another issue of the
nursing home is sex and sexuality. Even
though nursing homes allow the married couple to share the rooms if they agree,
many believe that elderly nursing home residents need more privacy for sexual
activities. Also, most of the nursing
homes need to improve in dealing with death and dying clients. The nursing
homes should not only provide for their clients’ physical well-being, but also
their mental well-being.
References
Cowles, L. A. F. (Ed.). (2003). Social work in the
health field: A care perspective. (2nd ed.) Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.
Freed, A. O. (1990). How Japanese families cope with
fragile elderly. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 15(1-2),
39-56.
Olson, L.
K. (1994). Public policy and privatization: Long-term care in the United
States. The graying of the world: Who will care for the frail elderly,
25-58.
I agree, it is very interesting to learn about the race and ethnicity in the nursing home. I also think it is interesting that a nursing home is less expensive than a hospital; I would never think that this would be true. We learned so much in chapter six about nursing homes and there were a lot facts I had no idea about.
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