Caring for the elderly in community

Caring for the elderly in community
Understanding the range of services available for older people in the community
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Caring for the elderly in community
Understanding the range of services available for older people in the community
For healthcare provision to be successful, a team of healthcare professionals must be working
together in every step of care provision. Patients who visit Primary Care Provider get services
from different people rather than just technicians or experts(Griffiths et al. 2016). Some of the
healthcare professionals involved in the Primary Care Provision include doctors, nurses,
physician assistance, dentists, pharmacist among others. They provide with information, carry
test, make references, communicate with the patient, and offer spiritual support to the patients
(Jansen et al. 2017). This paper identifies the roles of the healthcare assistant/team in community
care provision and how culture and ethnicity would affect the treatment of older people. It will
also identify the roles of services and support given to older people and how old people can be
helped to prepare for retirement and to pursue their interest. The healthcare assistant (HCAs)
working in hospitals or community settings require to be supervised by qualified healthcare
providers mostly a nurse. However, depending on where one is based healthcare assistant have
different roles. In this case, the focus shall be on healthcare assistant working in health centers
and GP Surgery.
1. Role of the healthcare assistant and healthcare team in care provision in the community
15 marks
Just like nurses do healthcare assistant work with healthcare professionals like midwives,
doctors, and other qualified health professionals. They have more contacts with the patients, and
their responsibilities include:
a) Taking blood samples
Healthcare assistant is not allowed to perform complex nursing procedures or to administer
medication to patients. They can only perform simple medical tasks like taking blood samples by
inserting needles into veins. This role would require previous experience in healthcare or training
may be undertaken to avoid making mistakes(Palmer, Newsom, and Rook, 2016). A blood test is
carried for different purposes including uncovering cancer for blood, anemia, infection, and basic
metabolic panel. Blood glucose,electrolyte and calcium levels can also be used to check liver,
kidney and heart function.

Caring for the elderly in community
b) Sterilize equipment
When equipment is used in hospitals they get contaminated when they have performed surgery
or even been mishandled or improper staff hygiene. Hospitals strive to fight healthcare-
associated infections (HAIs) which affect patients and hospital staff alike(Palmer, Newsom and
Rook, 2016). To prevent spreading of disease in hospitals healthcare assistant takes three steps
from the weakest (cleaning) to the most effective (sterilization). HAIs are infections that patients
get from staying long in the hospital. Every hospital comes with a battle plan that prevents the
spread of HAIs(Rampton, 2017). Healthcare assistant performs three processes which are
involved in preventing the disease, and they include cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization.
Sterilization is the last stage after disinfection and is a serious germ eradication process.
Sterilization kills all microorganisms including bacteria spores.
c) Doing health promotion and health education work
Health promotion is the way of enabling people to decide on how to improve their health.
Hospitals are the central players in promoting health, preventing disease and providing
rehabilitation services. Healthcare assistant helps healthcare professionals to give information
(educating) to the patients about health rather than just empowering individuals, their families,
groups or even communities. Both promotion and education are related but are not used
interchangeably(Palmer, Newsom, and Rook, 2016). Education falls under the components of
promotion.
2. Awareness of cultural and ethnic influences on older people, e.g., ageism 10 marks
Culturally effective care is delivered by exploring and responding to the unique care needs of all
patients in all clinical encounters(Ting-Toomey and Dorjee, 2018). This can be made possible by
putting in place systems or procedures that ensure that patients can give information on their
level of education, the language(Rampton, 2017) of preference, interpreter services, and
ethnicity(Holland, 2017). This helps in incorporating identities of the old patients when caring
for them(Palmer, Newsom and Rook, 2016). Health professionals working with a particular
ethnic group can benefit from acquiring a deeper understanding of their beliefs and
practices(Holland, 2017). By doing so, they can acknowledge and respect those practices.