Dementia and Aging: Types of Health Delivery and Impacts of Poverty

Running head: HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT TASK 2 1
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND CULTURAL SAFETY
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HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT TASK 2 2
DEMENTIA/AGEING
Introduction
Dementia is a common non-specific disease in aging people as has been shown by
(Strydom, Shooshtari, Lee, Raykar, Torr, Tsiouris, &Maaskant, 2010). It is characterized by a
couple of symptoms which are associated with memory loss and other thinking abilities leading
to an inability to perform daily activities. 60% to 80% of dementia is accounted for by
Alzheimer’s disease followed by vascular dementia. Vascular dementia occurs as the second
most common type of dementia which is always much evident after someone has suffered a
stroke. There are other types of dementia but the two are the most prevalent.
Dementia in Australia is named as the 2nd leading cause of death whereby it contributes to
11.3% of women and 5.8% men of all the deaths per annum as per (Draper, Karmel, Gibson,
Peut, & Anderson, 2011). Statistics show that there are more than 400,000 persons in Australia
living with dementia. 55% of those people are women and 50% of the people in the Australian
health facilities of the aged have dementia. By 2028 a study shows that there will be more than
500,000 cases of dementia because of the increased number of people joining every day from
250 to 318.
Three people in 10 over 85 years of age and one person over 10 over the age of 65 years
are said to have dementia as evident from (Shanley, Russell, Middleton, & Simpson-Young,
2011). There are minimal chances for younger people to have this nonspecific condition. Based
on class dementia seems to affect the lower social class more because they don’t involve their
brain more at their older age like the higher class. Culturally, ethnic minorities are at higher risk
than other people. The prevalence of dementia in Australia locations, the indigenous people in
Western Australia, Kimberly region are five times higher the average of the whole nation. In
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HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT TASK 2 3
North Queensland, a 20% higher dementia prevalence is shown on the indigenous people living
there. Because of this high rate of dementia cases, better health services should be offered to
prevent the rates of negatives it brings about.
Types of health delivery for dementia/aging
Primary care and community service
The primary and community health care is a form of setting to help aging people through
home support, home care services, and other different settings according to (Smith, Soubhi,
Fortin, Hudon, & O’Dowd, 2012). The primary health providers for the aged include;
professional nurses, community nurses and practitioner nurses, allied health providers,
pharmacists, aboriginal health providers, and dentists.
There are different types of assumptions which are made which make this kind of service
be underpinned. It is assumed that the resident may have childish and unpredicted behavior but
they still hold the grown-up feelings so they should be treated like one. They are assumed to
have a poor memory so they should not be forced to remember. This is an ailment which
deteriorates after some time, along these lines, they will turn out to be increasingly reliant on you
even while opposing you. Their world might get even more befuddling and insecure so vital
aspect to give better nursing care to protect them during this unsurprising moments. These
people still have those remaining skills and hence it is assumed that focusing on them is pretty a
good way of showing care and dignity. Understanding how important the health provider is to
the aged is important; abilities, demeanor, and conduct decide the personal wellbeing for the
aged persons.
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HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT TASK 2 4
Types of health care delivery in dementia/aging and their underpinning values
According to Milne (2010), there are two types of health care delivery services in
Australia for the aged that is home care(community-based care program) and residential care
program.
For adequate health care services in the residential and homes, these principles must be
upheld to underpin cultural safety and person-centered care. According to the code of conduct of
the nurses; “Principle 2.1: Nurses apply person-centered and evidence-based decision making for
the delivery of safe and quality care.’’ For the quality services to the dementia patients, a
decision based on evidence should be made to avoid giving medications for the wrong
prescription or endangering the lives of the aged.
The code of conduct for the nurses clearly in, “Principle 4.1 (h) states that nurses must
actively address indifference, omission, disengagement/ lack of care and disrespect to people that
may reflect under-involvement including escalating the issue to ensure the safety of the person if
necessary.” Dementia patients need to be kept on quality and high care unit where they have to
be reminded everything so nurses should ensure that they keep in touch. This is because if the
nurses fail to communicate or actively address the issues then they will end up being under
involved and might be much vulnerable to risks.
According to NMBA, principle 3; “provides the overarching standard that nurses are
expected to adopt in their practice: ‘Nurses engage with people as individuals in a culturally safe
and respectful way, foster open, honest and compassionate professional relationships, and adhere
to their obligations about privacy and confidentially.’” It is further divided into 3 to cater to
everything; 3.1b, 3.2a, and 3.5a. In accordance with 3.1a, caregivers should ensure safe cultural
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