Person-centered Nursing Care For Improving Healthcare Outcomes Of Elderly Patients: An Essay.

Strength-based strategies utilized by an ASET nurse

Person-centeredness is a necessary attribute that requires utilization in nursing care interventions for effectively improving the healthcare outcomes of the elderly patient. The effective undertaking of nursing care services for the aged patients requires the configuration of an effective therapeutic relationship with them for improving the pattern of their trust and compliance to the recommended healthcare interventions. The presented analysis of the video session describes the strength based strategies that an ASET nurse must deploy for effectively improving the quality of life and wellness outcomes in the aged population.  

Max shares his age-related hearing difficulties that create challenges in his communication process. He also shares the challenges experienced by him while undertaking physical movements. For example, he talks about the pattern of movement difficulty that he faces while transferring from bed to chair. These age-related difficulties substantially restrain his communication pattern with the external world. The ASET (Aged- Care Services Emergency Team) nurse effectively utilizes a range of person-centred communication strategies with the objective of systematically motivating Max for overcoming his communication deficit and associated life challenges. The nurse professional begins the interview session while preserving the dignity of Max while taking his permission and consent before initiating the interview session. The ASET nurse also allowed Max to share his personal preferences, beliefs and abilities that he would prefer to utilize for living a qualitative life. Evidence-based research literature also advocates the requirement of evaluating the preferences, abilities and skills of the aged patients with the utilization of supportive and positive communication strategies for effectively reinforcing the mitigation of their treatment challenges and individualized needs (Downs & Collins, 2015). The ASET nurse explores patient’s personality and social life while asking him several questions regarding his occupation, habits, medication history, social history and mental status through the systematic deployment of interpersonal communication. The analysis by (Beaulieu, et al., 2011) advocates the requirement of improving the pattern of interpersonal relationship between the healthcare provider and patient with the objective of systematically improving the interpersonal outcomes. Interpersonal communication focuses on prioritizing patient’s perspectives regarding his/her own medical care and utilizes them as a potential tool for enhancing the wellness outcomes. The ASET nurse motivated Max for increasing the extent and pattern of his socialization with the objective of overcoming the psycho-socio-somatic challenges that he continues to experience across the community environment. The nurse professional made Max realize regarding the importance of improved social connectedness and asked him to overcome his state of isolation while mingling with the society and engaging himself in indoor and outdoor activities along with the family members. She utilized empathic attitude in motivating Max for sharing the causes of his isolated state and investigated the state of his depression and associated psychosocial manifestations. She interacted with and engaged the patient thoroughly in the process of therapeutic communication for encouraging his focus and attention towards acquiring motivational approaches for improving his quality of life and health pattern. Indeed, therapeutic communication in the nursing profession plays a pivotal role in improving the spiritual and biopsychosocial well-being of the elderly patients (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014). Therapeutic relationship of the ASET nurse with the elderly patients assists in their health promotion, education, rehabilitation, therapy, treatment and prevention of co-morbid manifestations. In the presented video, the ASET nurse also utilized non-verbal communication strategies to motivate the patient in the context of overcoming his psycho-socio-somatic constraints. The nurse effectively utilized friendly gesture, soft tone, laughter intervention and positive facial expression in the context of gaining the interest, trust and confidence of Max in terms of his active participation in the interview process. The ASET nurse proved to be highly competent and possessed the required expertise for implementing the practical and theoretical aspects of non-verbal communication while interviewing Max in the medical facility (Koz?owska & Doboszynska, 2012).

Person-centered communication for improving patient outcomes

The ASET nurse effectively undertook the social, psychological, physical, economic, mental, familial, medication and occupational assessment of Max through the short interview session. The nurse professional inquired about the family circumstances of Max and tried to investigate the type and extent of social support possessed by him in a real-time environment. The ASET nurse many questions to the patient to understand his social status. For example, the nurse asked Max regarding his method of spending leisure time. She also investigated his smoking status and asked him regarding the frequency of his alcohol consumption. She investigated the frequency of patient’s outdoor activities with his friends and also discussed regarding his dentures and regular visits to the dentist. The ASET nurse investigated patient’s eyesight while inquiring regarding the frequency with which he utilized lenses in daily life. The nurse professional also investigated patient’s occupation (i.e. driving profession) and communication methods that he regularly utilizing for accomplishing his unmet day-to-day needs. These objective questions provided relevant cues regarding the social history of the patient and assisted the ASET nurse in undertaking his thorough social assessment. This social assessment helped the ASET nurse in evaluating the social determinants of patient’s health. The evaluation of patient’s social support systems and leisure time activities provides significant evidence that requires utilization for configuring effective remedial interventions with the objective of improving their social life across the community environment (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). The physical assessment of the patient was undertaken by evaluating his walking ability and self-management skills in relation to the execution of activities of daily living and personal care. The ASET nurse also evaluated patient’s bleeding complaint and attempted to correlate the associated adversities that substantially constrained his physical activity in daily life. The nurse professional also investigated the probability of patient’s difficulty in swallowing and chewing in the context of evaluating his feeding status. Evidence-based research literature affirms the requirement of undertaking physical evaluation of the elderly patient while observing their capacity to mobilize and transfer (Douglas, et al., 2016). The ASET nurse performed the psychological and mental assessment of Max while asking him regarding the level of his comfort and memory capacity. Max’s difficulty in undertaking the physical activity indicated the requirement of configuring functional improvement measures for effectively mitigating the activity restrictions. Evidence-based research literature emphasizes on the requirement of systematically evaluating the functional restrictions of the elderly patients for improving their healthcare outcomes (Ellis, Marshall, & Ritchie, 2014). The ASET nurse professional evaluated the familial and medication assessment of Max while evaluating his family history and the intensity of family support that he acquired in his daily life. The nurse also evaluated the medication consistency that the patient acquired under the direct influence of his wife’s support. The nurse investigated the mental stressors of the patient and identified various factors that could have impacted the pattern of his depression in the home environment. The high compliance of the patient to his medication intervention and desire to cope against the stressful situations revealed his positive behaviour that required further reinforcement for the systematic improvement in the wellness outcomes. Undoubtedly the ASET nurse utilized her clinical experience and proficiency in evaluating the family perspective of Max’s illness experience (Persson & Benzein, 2014). The significant assessment tool utilized by the ASET nurse in undertaking four areas of Max’s evaluation includes the interview session that she empathetically conducted with Max with the objective of performing his physical and psychosocial assessment in the absence of physically contacting the patient. This assessment tool worked well as the patient gained confidence and shared his strengths and weaknesses with the ASET nurse for acquiring qualitative treatment interventions in the healthcare setting.  

Importance of social assessment in nursing care

Strength-based nursing conventions advocate the requirement of establishing the pattern of hope, self-efficacy and empowerment in the treated patients (Gottlieb, 2014). These interventions radically focus on the strength of the patients and their families that they could utilize for mitigating their psycho-socio-somatic deficits. These healthcare norms also emphasize the requirement of configuring a healthy environment through effective patient communication for improving the control of the treated elderly patients on the pattern of their healing and health outcomes. The ASET nurse appreciated the kind of family support acquired by Max and ascertained its positive influence on his somatic and mental health outcomes. The nurse appreciated the role of Max’s spouse in terms of helping him in consistently utilizing his medicines on time. She also appreciated Max’s occupational engagement and motivated his familial engagement with the objective of effectively coping against the depression pattern. The ASET nurse utilized the tenet of self-determination while providing an opportunity to Max for discussing his capabilities, strengths, and potential towards leading an independent life. The nurse also discussed at length the focus areas where Max shared the desire to enhance his well-being.

The ASET nurse admired patient’s spouse for helping him in undertaking his personal activities attributing to cleansing, cooking and laundry. On the other hand, the nurse professional encouraged Max for enhancing his empowerment while utilizing his own capabilities, strengths, and skills for controlling his day-to-day situation and accomplishing the daily requirements. Indeed, the ASET nurse admired the collaborative execution of Max’s tasks with the help of his family members. The ASET nurse investigated Max’s home environment by asking about the location and number of stairs and the method and pattern of his utilization of these stairs in the absence or presence of family members. She appreciated Max’s confidence in undertaking an independent life with minimum financial restrictions and indirectly motivated him to optimize his alcohol consumption in the context of avoiding dependence. The ASET nurse facilitate Max’s reflection on the change process while getting familiar with him during the interview session and allowing him to share his individualized concerns regarding the healthcare process. The nurse motivated Max in sharing his positive experiences and encouraged him to undertake various community-based activities in the context of accomplishing his healthcare goals.  

She appreciated the utilization of lenses during driving by Max and shared a web link to acquire regular psychosocial and medical assessment and support in the longer term. The ASET nurse encouraged the existing coping skills of Max and encouraged him to utilize the same with the objective of improving the pattern of his self-management and physical activity. The ASET nurse effectively utilized the patient-related attributes including efficacy, effectiveness, empathy and environment in the context of improving the problem-solving and self-management skills across the community environment (Mosadeghrad, 2014). She made the patient realize regarding the significance of all stakeholders in his healthcare process and motivated him to improve his social connectedness and day-to-day activities for effectively enhancing his cognitive functionality, comprehensiveness and quality of life. The ASET nurse appreciated Max’s visits to the dentist and encouraged them to continue the same further with the objective of reducing the risk of denture-associated infection. Eventually, the nurse professional attempted to streamline Max’s strength in terms of improving the pattern of his self-awareness and self-sufficiency with the objective of enhancing his coping skills, quality of life and healthcare outcomes.

In conclusion, the nurse professional encouraged the patient to utilize his inner strengths with the objective of reducing the pattern of his healthcare dependence on the family members. The ASET nurse motivated Max for using his psychosocial skills and inner stamina to accomplish his daily needs with minimal external support. She also motivated Max in acquiring satisfaction in life while inculcating various coping strategies and configuring healthy environment for health promotion. The nurse professional evaluated max’s behavioural and emotional skills and competencies and attempted their positive induction for effectively improving his health-related behaviour across the community environment.    

Conclusion

The interview session thoroughly reveals the health risks experienced by the elderly patients and the type of holistic and person-centred nursing care that they require for improving their self-sufficiency and dependence in undertaking the activities of daily living and personal care. The nurse professionals must acquire the strength based assessment skills that the ASET nurse in the presented video displayed for improving the patient outcomes.  

References

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Persson, C., & Benzein, E. (2014). Family Health Conversations: How Do They Support Health? Nursing Research and Practice. doi:10.1155/2014/547160

Salmond , S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare Transformation and Changing Roles for Nursing. Orthopedic Nursing, 36(1), 12-25. doi:10.1097/NOR.0000000000000308