Individualized Care Plan
In providing for long-term care to elderly people, the caring nurse needs to develop an individual care plan to ensure that he or she follows all the protocols of nursing care and that he or she takes care of all the needs of the patient. An individual care plan is an outline of the needs as well as service options which are identified during the assessment process and provides a systematic summary of the plan created by both the case manager and the patient aimed at meeting the needs of the patient (North Dakota State Government 1). Individual care plans are required for all the elderly patients receiving nursing care.
Developing an individual care plan is very important in the nursing profession. My professional discipline is nursing and I work as an administrator of a Residential Care Facility for the elderly. The discipline has developed new professional methods of dealing with delivery of healthcare.
An individual care plan will help me in formalizing the plan of support for elderly patients who have complex healthcare needs. With the knowledge of how to develop an individual care plan, I will be able to initiate the establishment of such a plan in circumstances where a plan is necessary for managing support for the patient. The plan is very important for managing patients who require administration of particular health care procedures or patients diagnosed to be at risk of possible emergency. An individual health care plan can be developed for patients with epilepsy, asthma, anaphylaxis as well as both types 1 and 2 diabetes (Boughton 1). According to the University of Minnesota (3) the plan would help monitor each patient’s mental and physical stability as well as the care provider to offer daily living activities to patients who are not able to care for themselves in Resident Care-Nursing homes. The plan will help those who work under me put in detail the needs of the patient and how they plan to meet them during the nursing care program. It will also help in developing detailed procedure of what is to be done in case of an emergency (Weinberg 109). It also helps address the physical activities as well as environmental conditions a patient should be exposed to. Finally, it will be important in reviewing the patient’s health care plan in case of improvements.
Quality nursing care
Nursing care has always been faced with challenges of ensuring quality in provision of health care to patients. Quality nursing care means providing high standard medication, healthcare services as well as ensuring conditions which are favorable for caring and healing process.
In the nursing profession, I am a dental hygienist. As a dental hygienist I specialize in preventive oral health which includes providing cleaning services, dental sealants as well as administration of fluoride. I also provide instructions for ensuring proper oral hygiene as well as care.
Provision of quality nursing care will make me accountable to patients since I will be able to meet their values and expectations especially the elderly whose health conditions are very vulnerable and require more sensitive care (Andrea, Jeffrey, Kraus-Schuman, Kunnik Mark, Rhoades, Stanley and Wilson 349). Quality nursing care gives the care provider the confidence to inform patients regarding the status of their health and the best options available (Wensley 6). By ensuring quality, I will be accountable to all the decisions and actions I take to meet the needs of the patients who visit the nursing home as well the US Navy Veteran Facility. Provision of quality nursing care ensures that the case manager uses selected evaluation tools which are designed for the purpose of measuring and assessing the condition of the patient and therefore applying relevant treatment strategies and tools which will help achieve the desirable outcome (Cantor 9). Being concerned about quality will help me inform patients and the community that uses the healthcare facility of the deficiencies that exist in the nursing home and how the hospital plans to address them (Bauman 12).
In what ways does this course contribute to my understanding of these concepts?
The course explores the chronological development of long-term elderly care, providing information on the stages and changes that long-term healthcare has undergone; and challenges that it has faced. It provides an insight into the demographic profile of the elderly as well as social healthcare programs available for them. It also explores special health problems which face the elderly as a result of their age and the resulting life circumstances. These include mental and physical health problems. These developments and challenges make me understand the future of nursing care for the elderly and what is really required of me during my nursing practice.
The course explores the major challenges that the elderly face in obtaining healthcare services from the medical facilities available, which are, the nursing home care. Providing quality health care is identified in the course as a major problem in provision of health care services for the elderly. The course discusses the possible reasons for poor/inadequate quality services in the healthcare facilities such as logistics, equipment, medicine, human resource, management among others. It also explores various models and approaches which could be applied to help ensure quality healthcare services as well as facilities for the elderly. It also analyses various tools and nursing practices necessary for accomplishing quality requirements in provision of healthcare for the elderly. Besides, it discusses the need for ensuring consistent quality healthcare for elderly and the available standardized methods for achieving the same. These have greatly improved my knowledge and ability to ensure effective quality healthcare for the elderly in my nursing practice.
Development of individualized care plans is also identified in the course as an essential means of ensuring quality patient care, and successful outcomes. The course explains the basic parts of an individualized care plan, and how to develop the same. It explores the benefits of an individualized care plan, and how I can effectively use it in my daily nursing activities to achieve positive outcomes. The course also discusses the major health problems that require the use of individualized care plans in patient care for the elderly.
Works Cited
Andrea, Bradford, Jeffrey, Cully, Kraus-Schuman, Cynthia, Kunnik Mark,. Rhoades, Howard, Stanley Melinda and Wilson, Nancy. Early Response to Psychotherapy and Long-Term Change in Worry Symptoms in Older Adults With Generalized Anxiety Disorder. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19:4 (2011): 347–356. San Antonio: American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.
Bauman, Marjorie.The importance of outcome measurement in quality assurance. Holistic Nursing Practice, 5:3 (1991): 8-13.
Boughton, Barbara. New Guidelines Emphasizes Individualized Care Plans. Medscape News, 2011. Web.
Cantor, Majorie. Achieving Nursing Care Standards: Internal and External. Massachusetts: Nursing Resources, Inc., 1983. Print.
North Dakota State Government. Individual Care Plan. 2009. Web.
University Of Minnesota. Admission, transfer and discharge rights. 2003. Web.
Weinberg, Myrl. Individualized Care Plans: A New Healthcare Delivery Model. The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits, 1:2 (2009): 109-110. Web.
Wensley, Michelle. Quality of nursing care. 1992. Web.