Good Intentions and Nursing Care
Older people may also suffer at the hands of their care-givers in institutional settings. Even the nurse who tries to “reason with” an elderly patient, unaware that the patient is becoming confused, may be less sensitive to feelings. Inapropriate use of restraints is abusive treatment. Doing what one thinks is best for the older patient does not always get the desired response persuasion turns into “you will do this” and this is emotionally traumatic. The most conscientious nurse may leave the elderly patient with the impression that she is “rough”.
An old woman tells her niece : “I didn`t like that night nurse. She made me walk to the bathroom at four o`clock in the morning. She said, `Your doctor wants you to walk, an it`s good for you`. It`s not good for me when I`m dizzy, and I`m dizzy when I get up at night!”
The issue is that caring for elderly persons who are ill is a special kind of nursing. The nurse must have background knowledge that views the older patient as a complex human being with multiple and individual needs.
Farrell J : Nursing Care of the Older Person, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1990.
