Essay Sample on Dementia and Nursing Home Care Setting

Topic Identification

The topic selected to be researched is related to dementia. It will focus on assessing the influence which family satisfaction has on the perception of care to their family members suffering from dementia in a nursing home care setting. This topic is selected given that dementia is an issue faced across the globe and estimated to affect one in seven individuals above 65 years. For example, research shows that in the US, 30% to 40% of individuals above 85 years are likely to develop Alzheimer's illness, which is a common type of dementia (Liu, AGuarino, & Lopez, 2012). As such, this paper seeks to identify the factors that determine family members' decision-making, satisfaction, and perception of care to their family member suffering from dementia and under nursing home care.

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Topic Description and Importance to the Field of Nursing

Research on the prevalence of dementia in the 21st century shows worrying results indicating that it is the sixth leading cause of death in the US. Moreover, approximately 5.4 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's illness and cost nearly US$183 billion every year. Furthermore, as baby boomers grow, the number of individuals with this condition is expected to grow to up to 7.7 million by 2030. Therefore, the health care personnel is limited and seriously unprepared to meet the health needs of this population in a looming crisis (Liu, et al., 2012).

The nature of dementia requires a lot of input from family members with respect to decision-making. As such, this topic is relevant to the field of nursing given that family members are directly involved in relinquishing care of their sick member to a nursing home. In this regard, nurses in these facilities affect family member's perception given that they are the workforce that is directly involved in caring for their sick family member. Nurses must ease family members' worries to fulfill the reasons for relinquishing care of their loved one. Research shows that the experience of relinquishing care is associated with the coercion to make negative decisions and feeling of failure. In some cases, insufficient knowledge and information regarding the progress of dementia have been cited as common reasons that increase uncertainty among family members (Graneheim, Johansson, & Lindgren, 2014). Researchers argue that chances for patient's relatives to interact with care professionals differ across care settings. As such, professional nurses must put in place measures that boost communication and interaction with resident's family members (Hasson & Arnetz, 2011). Therefore, this project relates to the field of nursing in that nursing home care personnel must demonstrate their expertise in handling dementia patients.

The Relevance of the Project as a Professional Doctorate Project as Opposed to a PH.D. Research

This project is relevant as a professional doctorate project since it uses existing knowledge in an attempt to solve real-life issues, unlike Ph.D research, which requires the application of new knowledge. For example, nursing home institutions are faced with a high turnover rate as well as challenges in the hiring of new and skilled labor (Bolenius, Lamas, Sandman, & Edvardsson, 2017). In this regard, this professional project will use existing knowledge to solve such an issue, such as examining remuneration of staff, communication as well as administrative approaches used which may be contributing to the crisis. The project is also relevant as a professional doctorate as opposed to Ph.D. since the researcher's interest is to practice as a profession and not consulting or research. Similarly, the period required for conducting this project is shorter compared with a Ph.D project; thus, making it more suitable. Completing the Project within the Constraints of Professional Doctorate Program

One main constraint in this project is time since undertaking work, studies and research can be challenging. However, this project will be completed with effective planning and developing objectives that must be met in a given timeframe. Planning will also solve the aspect of resource constraints. It can be costly to undertake research therefore with proper planning, this project will be successful. The other aspect of handling cost is to utilize faculty resources. Moreover, remaining consistent in the process of working on this project will ensure that there is a balance between the research and other demands such as work. Moreover,

An Organization That Can Benefit From This Project

Every individual deserves to get the best care at the end of life thus; creating quality end-of-life care in various home care setting should be a priority across the globe (Nadin, Miandad, Kelley, Marcella, & Heyland, 2017). Therefore, a nursing home organization can best benefit from this project. Based on research, four key factors affect family members' satisfaction on the perception of care to their sick member in a nursing home, this include neglect, communication, physical environment and administration of the facility. In this regard, the nursing home must address these aspects to ensure that they meet patients' needs as well as positive perception from the patient's family members.

In situations where residents are neglected, and provision of care is done hurriedly, the level of satisfaction among the patients as well as their family members will diminish. Some of the identified cases of neglect in a nursing home include partial bathing of residents, being dressed while still wet, as well as a violation of their privacy. Therefore, by identifying these issues, a nursing home is in a better position to develop quality services for dementia patient, which in turn gains the approval of family members. Communication is a key aspect in a nursing home and it affects services delivery. As such, in situations where there is unprofessional communication among nursing home staff members, the patients suffer. Resident often need to voice out their concerns as well as express their needs but if staff are unwilling to hear them or respond rudely, then the family members' satisfaction is bound to be derailed thus affecting their perception of nursing home care for dementia patient (Habjanic, Saarnio, Elo, Turk, & Isola, 2011).

Moreover, the nursing home institution can benefit from this project by identifying administrative challenges that may affect family members' satisfaction and perception of the institution (Habjanic, et al., 2011). Furthermore, the uncomfortable physical environment in a nursing home can affect patients and their family member's level of satisfaction. This may include organization of resident's living areas and the surroundings (Liu, et al., 2012). Therefore, by pointing out these challenges, a nursing home institution will benefit by correcting the factors that have a direct impact on patient satisfaction.

References

Bolenius, K., Lamas, K., Sandman, P.-O., & Edvardsson, D. (2017). Effects and meanings of a person-centered and health-promoting intervention in home care services - a study protocol of a non nonrandomised. BMC Geriatrics, 17(57), 1-9. doi:10.1186/s12877-017-0445-0

Graneheim, U. H., Johansson, A. R., & Lindgren, B.-M. (2014). Family caregivers' experiences of relinquishing the care of a person with dementia to a nursing home: insights from a meta-ethnographic study. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Science, 28, 215-224. Retrieved from 10.1111/scs.12046

Habjanic, A., Saarnio, R., Elo, S., Turk, D. M., & Isola, A. (2011). Challenges for institutional elder care in Slovenian nursing homes. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21, 2579-2589. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.04044.x

Hasson, H., & Arnetz, J. E. (2011). Care recipients' and family members' perceptions of quality of older people care: a comparison of home-based care and nursing homes. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 20, 423-1435. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03469.x

Liu, L. M., AGuarino, A. J., & Lopez, R. P. (2012). Family Satisfaction With Care Provided by Nurse Practitioners to Nursing Home Residents With Dementia at the End of Life. Clinical Nursing Research, 2(3), 350-367. doi:10.1177/1054773811431883

Nadin, S., Miandad, M. A., Kelley, M. L., Marcella, J., & Heyland, D. K. (2017). Measuring Family Members' Satisfaction with End-of-Life Care in Long-Term Care: Adaptation of the CANHELP Lite Questionnaire. BioMed Research International, 2017, 1-17. doi:10.1155/2017/4621592