The Elderly care is an important part of today's society. Older people in particular require more complex care, which is not always possible at home by relatives. Age-related diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer's require medical care.
Family members are often greatly overwhelmed by the effects of such conditions, especially since these diseases also bring very unpleasant accompanying circumstances with them that make it necessary to look after a mental one in addition to physical care. Forgetfulness, insults, escaping into memories of one's own youth that are taken to be real, are just a few of the few examples that in turn mean that the elderly affected often exposes themselves to dangers and therefore all the more requires nursing and medical supervision.
What is elderly care?
Elderly care takes care of people in need who can no longer cope with their everyday lives. You will not only be cared for and medically cared for, but you will also be confronted with meaningful activities that not only strengthen your mind but also your body.
Elderly care often takes place in nursing homes, in outpatient care services for the elderly, in geriatric psychiatric and geriatric departments in hospitals, in hospices and rehabilitation clinics. In addition, there are geriatric nurses who enable personal care in private homes in order to relieve the family without depriving the elderly of their home and familiar surroundings.
Care for the elderly therefore primarily serves to ensure stable living conditions for old people. The elderly should not just be cared for and dismissed, even if they gradually lose their social, physical and mental abilities, but the goal of care for the elderly is often also the self-care of the elderly or in another form for the To maintain everyday life for restricted people and to encourage them accordingly. Not only is the person concerned asked and stabilized, but family members are also included.
Treatments & therapies
The care itself is an extremely demanding task and not only requires philanthropy, but also a lot of patience, commitment and skill. Dealing with old people, who are often no longer satisfied and often for no apparent reason, demands a lot of character from the geriatric nurse.
In addition, his work is always an interference with the right to self-determination of a person who was used to regulating and organizing his life himself, lived, worked, founded a family, which in such a situation of need for care leads to dissatisfaction and frustration, refusal and Can lead to verbal abuse.
Some old people also tend to have sudden outbreaks of violence, without ever having been affected by it before, for which the geriatric nurse must be prepared. Physical care is all the more difficult when people try to boycott the measures out of shame or lack of understanding. Are certain clinical pictures added, such as If, for example, dementia entails a loss of brain activity, care becomes an even greater challenge, precisely because the person affected, who needs care, does not know what he is doing and is also a stranger does not automatically cause sympathy, as would be the case with affected family members.
Care for the elderly as a profession has continued to improve over the years. It is precisely because of medical advances that the concern for older people has increased. Professional care, available medication and technical everyday aids, plus a more complex implementation of various innovations and care concepts, require a geriatric nurse to have higher qualifications and training.
This usually lasts three years. In addition, it is also used on temporarily employed employees, e.g. B. People who do their community service. Repeatedly recurring grievances in nursing homes and institutions were viewed critically, which not only resulted in serious neglect, but also the use of force by nursing staff who were unsuitable for this task. Even various protective measures could not always remedy this.
The shortage of caregivers is also an ongoing problem in the elderly care sector. It is still viewed as a low level of employment, and caring for the elderly and in need of care is a great strain on one's own psyche. It is not uncommon for this work to result in severe frustration, which in turn can lead to physical and emotional problems for the carer. Nevertheless, the need for elderly care workers continues to grow.
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There are different levels of care within Germany, which in turn determine not only the amount of financial support but also the level of care required. A low level of care enables care by relatives. A higher level may require private nursing or a stay in a hospital or retirement home. Care for the elderly is financed by long-term care insurance benefits.
Professional care for the elderly is also divided into semi-inpatient and inpatient care. In the first variant, there are day or night care facilities if u. a. a time must be bridged in which relatives cannot devote themselves to caring for the person concerned at home. There is also hourly care, whereby not only elderly people, but also sick or disabled people are cared for.
The second variant often takes place as complete care in nursing homes or old people's homes. These are mostly in close contact with hospitals or have in-house medical care. Concepts for terminal care that can take place in inpatient care facilities are now also being developed.
