Elder Abuse Questions/Info

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2004

You know,,, when people think of elder abuse they think of physical abuse,, but just some food for thought,,

What about the person in the assisted feeding room at the NH who berates a patient because they arent eating quickly enough. Consider a few things,,, decreased saliva causeing a need for added time to chew food to a swallowable consistency. Decreased touch/sensation of the fingers,, its difficult for them to hold a glass maybe,, they spill,, dont degrade them and accuse them of doing it on purpose. They dont spit out the food cause they dont like it,, its because they cant get it chewed up. Give them a break and dont rush them. Can they SEE whats on their plate? Its a little difficult to have an appetite when they slide a plate in front of you and tell you to eat but you cant find the forlk, or cant see what the food is,, lets not forget the taste buds are decreasing in sensitivity so how are they supposed to know what they are eating if they cant taste it, and noone has told them what is on the plate. Consider how just these few things affect patients lives in nursing homes today. Sad that they spend so little time making CNA's understand these changes as we age.

Someone had started a pet peeve thread a while back,, now that i think of it,, these are some of my biggest pet peeves. Sorry, i know that this may not really fit into this thread,, but in my opinion,, some of this stuff is just as abusive as any physical abuse. When people hit,, it hurts for a little,, but when people are hungry and degraded when they cant feed themselves it hurts for a long time.

jkaee · Apr 20, 2004

There are seven types of abuse in the nursing home setting, and ANYONE can be a part of it, even unknowingly....(family, staff, stc)

Physical

Psychological

Sexual

Neglect (active and passive)

Financial

Verbal

Invonuntary Seclusion

Abuse is not always as obvious as it seems. Sometimes everyday things we say or do could be considered abuse. Any other questions or if you need examples, PM me!

military girl · Apr 21, 2004

Thank you so much for answering my post. I greatly appreciate it. I would like some ideas on what kind of questions I could ask. I'm the baby nurse on my shift and as I said before, I don;t want to insult anyone's intelligence. Should my questions be simple, such as identify the types of elder abuse, maybe give some scenarios and ask them to identify the type of abuse, what organizations help with abuse, etc.?

Please let me know if I'm on the right tract.

jkaee · Apr 22, 2004

Thank you so much for answering my post. I greatly appreciate it. I would like some ideas on what kind of questions I could ask. I'm the baby nurse on my shift and as I said before, I don;t want to insult anyone's intelligence. Should my questions be simple, such as identify the types of elder abuse, maybe give some scenarios and ask them to identify the type of abuse, what organizations help with abuse, etc.?
Please let me know if I'm on the right tract.

That sounds like a good start to me, because many people know the overt types of abuse...hitting, punching, yelling, calling names. But, if a staff member talks about a residents big breasts, even jokingly, it's considered sexual abuse. If a resident is being loud in the dining room and staff remove him and put him in his room, that's involuntary seclusion. Sometimes, even saying things like, "Come on, Mrs. Jones, you know you can walk better than that!" is considered verbal and psychological abuse. As well as saying if the resident doesn't do XYZ, then they won't be able to do ABC. Not having the call bell within reach, not changing a resident promply....it all *can* be considered abuse.

Let me know how your presentation is going, and if I can help you out anymore just PM me.

Jennifer