Elderly Care ward...

Silverdragon102, BSN · May 18, 2010

Moved to the UK forum

It varies a lot but I did a lot of ADL's, ward arranged for me to spend time with stroke physio and OT so maybe worth asking about when you arrive on the ward. Not really a lot of change I thought from other medical wards as chronic disease was on both types of wards

xAmyRose · May 18, 2010

I didnt know where to write this.. I am new to the site, joined today :) so apologies!

But thank you for replying!! :)

madeleine · May 18, 2010

Elderly care is not that different to other medical wards. Clearly, the patients are more mature and some things such as reactions to drugs can be different in the elderly.

I would say the most important thing is to treat your patients with respect and do not forget they were your age once doing all the stuff you do! They are not a different species:)

Enjoy your experience and learn from your patients.

krh81 · May 20, 2010

I loved my elderly care placement. I found the pace a lot slower the my previous placements. There did not seem such an urgency to get everybody out of bed and washed and dressed before 10. A lot of the patients were early risers but it was not uncommon for patiens to have a "lie in". The ward I worked on had a day room where the patients could interact, some sat and watched tv and others read books. There were also daily activities such as exercise classes, scrabble, bingo. There was also an area for the patients to make their own drinks. A lot of my palcement was rehab and I worked very closely with OTs and physios. I was able to do home visits and assess the suitability of the patients property. Not all the patients were able to mobilise and take advantage of the social activities. Some patients had MS, Parkinsons, leg ulcers, some had had strokes but were palced on the ward as they were improving. You will find a wide range of medical condition, such as diabetes, cardiac failure and cancer. Hope I havent bored you too much and good luck with your placement.

iNurseUK, RN · May 21, 2010

Are you having a laugh krh81? The last Elderly Care ward I was floated to was hell on Earth. The only question the day shift were interested in was "How many patients have you washed?" the night nurses on there started the washes at 5AM or even earlier despite a specific instruction not to do so from the Matron.

The vast majority of the patients were doubly incontinent, bedbound and demented. The drug round took forever, you were constantly cleaning the patients and preventing the few ambulatory ones from falling. On top of that you had the sort of doctors who like to order every painful invasive test in the book and really severe understaffing with often one RN and two (if you were lucky three) HCA's to a 30-bedded ward.

It was hell. I hated every godforsaken second of it. I've since moved away from that particular excuse for a hospital and moved to a decent one.

Never again.

krh81 · May 21, 2010

Everyone has different experiences, and yours obviously was not as good mine. On an average day there were 4 hcas on shift , 3 nurses and a sister, I was on placement with 4 other students as well so understaffing was not really a problem. The ward had its own physios and ots and the rapport between the multi disciplinary team was fab.

suzanne7575 · May 23, 2010

I work in a community hospital which I would say was primarily elderly patients, our hospital is slightly different in that we do not generally have such acute patients as we are stuck out in a rural village with no medical cover out of hours, however I would say our elderly patients will be similar to those you will get on an elderly care ward as they don'tnormally go to one of these until acute medical conditions are sorted out.

I would say our aim with our patients is rehab and promoting independence to perform ADL's as best they can. It does involve a lot more personal cares than maybe a busy acute ward might do but as a student i think placements on elderly care wards are valuable in gaining those essential skills (and call me old fashioned but i believe that basic care of patients is everyones job wether you be a HCA or a senior charge nurse). Our day mainly consists of getting our patients up and ready for the day, our patients are encouraged to wear their clothes each day to promote normality, we usually have lots of dressings to attend to and we carry on the work of OT and physio to help with the rehab of our patients. We also work closely with the multidiciplinary team and spent a lot of time planning discharge for our patients.

enjoy your placement, a lot of people turn their nose up at elderly care nursing but i for one find it very rewarding

iNurseUK, RN · May 25, 2010

I wasn't disrespecting those who work in the care of older folks at all. What I was saying was that this care area often suffers the most from staff shortages.

ayla2004, ASN, RN · Jun 17, 2010

hope ur placement is going well.

i work on a acute former rehab ward.

some pt are acutely ill with related dependence however some are normally dependant.

i do loads of adl. safety falls check infection control measures cleaning. meds can take a while especially if you have cd and ivi abx meds or fluids.

as other have said liaising with mdt in particular socail workers for discharge.

ward rounds dealing with family and pt on the lcp(care of the dying) pathway.

and now teaching students from time to time

Zana2 · Jun 18, 2010

Elderly care ward is my idea of hell. I absolutely hated it as a student. So much, that I had to be extra careful at all times so i don't lose my temper big time. Some people are cut out for it, some don't.

BUT, it was an unvaluable humbling experience. I work in an acute area now and I believe what makes me a good nurse is the fact that all those gruelling months of care of the elderly made me see the bigger picture. I had time before to find out about those people's lives, what they do/feel/think, got to know family, I can alleviate niggling things with a gentle touch, a nice word, I had the time to talk to myself about death, I know about positioning to spare that pressure sore, why the tissues are scatterd all around their bed, how quickly they get cold...it's what makes me a nurse. Yep, I think nothing of accessing a CVP and pushing IVs, someone with tubes through every orifice and monitors is fine, but it's the care of the elderly ward that taught me to care.

Enjoy it.