The Importance of Long-Term Care for the Elderly with Diabetes
There has been a rapid growth of the number of the elderly in the U.S, and as reported by the American Diabetes Association in 2015, the percentage of Americans aged 65 and above with diabetes is at 25.2% or approximately 12.0 million. These numbers are for cases which are diagnosed and those that are undiagnosed. These figures show that an increasing number of the elderly lose their independence and that they may be in dire need of long-term care. This care may be formal or informal, and throughout this paper, our case study will focus on the relevance of nursing in managing the health of the patients.
Long-Term Care for Seniors with Diabetes
There have been numerous studies in a bid to explain the need for formal and informal care for the elderly with diabetes. According to, “Bucher, et al. (2015)"", it is essential to take special care of the patients whether they are institutionalized or not. It, however, seems that most patients opt to remain in their homes.
Staying at home requires support that may be provided in the form of formal programs; for instance, use of certified health agencies or in the form of informal care providers such as relatives. The better option would be to make use of regular caregivers because families may find themselves experiencing economic stresses, hardships when it comes to time, burnout and so on and as such increasing the risks involved in home admission.
In as much as there are many risks involved with home admission many patients find themselves opting to stay home. The issue at hand, therefore, becomes how best to support informal caregivers as much as possible so that their patient can stay at home. This is because it is cheaper and more comfortable for the patient.
According to, Schmittdiel et al., (2015, June), it is essential for a study to be conducted on this issue and it should help the informal caregivers know how many hours they are supposed to spend taking care of their patients, what exactly they should be doing in the prescribed hours, how much money it would cost to take care of the patient in a specified period and what facilities they should purchase or hire to complete the task. The study should also be in a position to explain if it would be possible to couple the formal and informal caregiving, for instance, would it be possible to have a legal caregiver for at least two to three times a week and then the informal caregiver would take care of the patient for the remaining time. All in all the study should show how best a patient can be taken care of at home at the lowest stress possible.
As shown in the case study above, long-term care for seniors with diabetes is highly necessary, and the most relevant point is the need to have to nurse of the patients. It would be essential to improve care taken in home admission, and if that is not possible, then studies should consider ways to make formal caregiving more affordable.
References
Bucher, S., Bauduceau, B., Benattar-Zibi, L., Bertin, P., Berrut, G., Corruble, E., ... & Falissard, B. (2015). Primary care management of non-institutionalized elderly diabetic patients: The S. AGES cohort–Baseline data. Primary care diabetes, 9(4), 267-274.
Schmittdiel, J. A., Desai, J., Schroeder, E. B., Paolino, A. R., Nichols, G. A., Lawrence, J. M., ... & Steiner, J. F. (2015, June). Methods for engaging stakeholders in comparative effectiveness research: a patient-centered approach to improving diabetes care. In Healthcare (Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 80-88). Elsevier.
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