Week 9 Blog
This week I really enjoyed reading about how the elderly view nursing homes and how they perceive the experience of being in a nursing home. I am a certified nurses assistant here at a local nursing home. I have been an assistant for over 6 yrs
now and I know the homes in town vary quite a bit with the quality of
care. I won't name any names of the different places, but I will say I
have worked at several now and the one I work at now is by far an above
average facility. In this weeks reading what piqued my curiosity the most was "Patronizing
speech" when caring for an older person. I really haven't given this
topic much thought before. I think as care givers, far too often we tend
to get in a daily routine of how we deal with patients and forget how
much each patient is different. If I had unlimited funds I would like to see more research done on patronizing speech and more studies on the outcomes of specialty training. I can see how more training on this subject for caregivers could
improve the quality of life for our long term patients. I consider
myself to be an above average care giver, but now that I have read more
about this topic I can see ways I could improve in the way I help my
patients on an individual basis. If I could read more about this subject
I would like to learn more about what I can say or do when interacting
with my patients by using different techniques in the way I talk to them. This topic made me stop and realize that far too often we treat the patients the same or say the same phrases over and over like "How are you feeling today", if each care giver said the same thing to each patient each day it could lead the patient to think no one really cares about them as an individual.
I could see how an elder person would lose their integrity. I would
love to see more money spent on training with regards to the way we
interact with patients in regards to speech patterns. Caregivers should receive more training on speech patterns, and get to know the individuals past hobbies, past careers. We need more research to show the caregivers that this approach in regards to the way we talk to patients can make a huge difference in the quality of life to our patients. I liked reading about how the nursing homes that allow more self decisions of the patients had a better quality of life as well.
I will be more aware of my tone and the questions I ask now of my
patients, I will try and apply more individual related questions and be
more aware of using same phases over and over. I can see how personalizing the way you speak to your patients can make a huge difference in their quality of life just by rephrasing what you say to them on a daily basis.
Wow, that was a great blog post! It was really interesting to hear the perspective of someone in the field. I completely agree that we need to have more training regarding "bedside manner" for any type of caregiver. A few years ago I worked with Autistic children as a care giver and each individual was exactly that, an individual, but sometimes you get wrapped up in trying to get everything done that you forget to treat people as such. I really enjoyed reading your blog, it was very insightful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog. I too have worked at several different nursing homes and there definitely is some greater than others. I think more training is a great idea and perhaps less patient to caregiver ratio. Some caregivers just get into the same short talk routine just because they don't have time to listen. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI have never worked as a CNA although i have done the training, and the hours. I however work in a nursing home, just in the childcare department. I totally agree that NACs working with patients should get to know their patients better, it builds more trust between the patient and the staff member, and they wont feel like a burden.
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