subject: 10 Benefits Of Skilled Nursing [print this page] There has been a lot of emphasis in recent times on migration from the traditional large hospital driven medical care model to that of smaller resident-directed care, more particularly for aging people. Apart from ensuring personalized care by skilled nurses with greater autonomy, the focus is on quality of life as a motivation for improved life experience with enhanced life expectancy. The underlying philosophy is of altering the nursing home stereotype to that of personal community, comparable to a supportive home environment with flexibility of personal preferences, choices and liberties including control over the daily lifestyle regimen in small and manageable cohesive groups.
Benefits of person-centered care by skilled nursing
*"People First" is the dictum on which the Skilled Nurse (SN) is expected to perform to create a supportive environment, in which the system attaches greater importance to the people rather than to the facility.
*The SN shall accord overriding priority to the right of the inmatesto make their own decisions and their consequential need for control over the preferential options which govern their lifestyles.
*Be a partner in ameliorating the discomfort emanating from behavioral issues, apart from reducing depression caused by isolation.
*Be the helping hand in combating boredom, more often caused by helplessness.
*Nurturing inmates to create a living style of their own and improve upon it, in tune with the mental baggage they carry.
*Encouraging an atmosphere reminiscent of a personalized home in promoting enjoyment and life expectancy of their patients.
*According a status of dignity to their patients, particularly those with disabilities, by giving them due respect, even while addressing them, by avoiding a demeaning connotation highlighting their disability; for instance, use of terms like wheelchair patient, patient with crutches, mad patient, limping patient etc. are total taboo in such enclaves.
*Unlike in a hospital where every service rendered is deemed as a task, skilled nursing attention is on patient specific care.
*With a special focus on personal bonding between service providers (SN) and the residents for breeding harmonious dependence, a dedicated team approach is often resorted to, by avoiding rotational duties as far as possible, thereby assuring consistency of staff teams.
*The need for temporary staffing agencies with training needs and learning curves is obviated by a reduced employee turnover, with a steady team of familiar faces thronging the arena,which the residents tend to become comfortable with.
Aging is no longer a curse. Choice, flexibility and creativity are the triad on which the foundation of SN has been built. The future of SN would to a large extent depend upon the spirit with which the quality of life of the resident and the caregiver is improved through their empowerment.
