Summary Of Media Item

Aged care is one of the most important aspects in the healthcare services and might require involvement of competent and efficient healthcare professionals including Registered Nurses for delivery of optimum care. In Australia, there are adequate number of aged cares residentials, however the quality of services is still questionable. On the other hand, there is growing number of evidences which indicate high prevalence of elderly abuse and neglect in these aged care homes associated with poor quality of life, multimorbidity status and low life expectancy of this particular population. As per the estimation done by the Office of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, more than 40 percent of persons who reside in Australian aged care homes suffer from abuse or neglect. They are susceptible to emotional as well as physical abuse. Hence this can be considered as an important aspect to discuss and implement priority action.

According to Abc.net.au. (2020) it was reported that neglect is one of the main factors which impact the quality of healthcare services in the aged care homes. The data from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was compiled from replies to a survey including 391 residents within a total of 67 facilities. The media has indicated that neglect and abuse rates are substantially higher than even the most pessimistic among people could have imagined.

According to the survey, 22.6 percent of the aged care residents have been subjected to either psychological or emotional abuse. For example, it can be said that treating them like children, shouting at them or not listening to their concerns might be considered as abuse. One out of every twenty inmates said that these people had been assaulted physically, and this might have been roughed up by professionals, appearing restrained, or not being permitted to leave their room, wheelchair or bed. Prevalence Of Elderly Abuse And Neglect Discussion Paper

A point which was highlighted during the survey included that the aged care facilities have shortage of staffs who can provide efficient care to the resident. Although the organizations are aware of the issue, they are indifferent about it. Lack of funding has also been identified as a barrier for conducting research in this particular field. The healthcare staffs who were engaged as caregivers in these aged care facilities were incompetent in the traditional sense. They misbehaved with the residents, failed to address their needs and also violated the ethical principles that a healthcare practitioner especially the direct caregivers (such as nurses) should be endowed with.

According to Nagaratnam and Nagaratnam (2019) it has been indicated that Elderly people who are reliant on others are especially vulnerable to abuse. Underreporting is caused by clinicians’ aversion to reporting victims and their lack of understanding of warning indicators. Early diagnosis of elder maltreatment depends on awareness of risk factors and clinical signs, as well as a high level of suspicion. Pay close attention to ‘hidden’ signals, which might indicate significant danger in specific circumstances. For the detection of elder abuse, screening is the most crucial of the key intervention options. A wide range of services are available as part of intervention techniques.

A Review Of The Aged Care Literature

According to the research conducted by Radermacher et al. (2018) aged care facility staffs have conceptualized and detected the issue of elderly abuse in a variety of ways. The creation of effective treatments and preventative efforts, which require staff education and training as well as substantial structural and institutional changes, is hampered by this lack of universal understanding.

According to the study conducted by Brijnath et al. (2020) it was indicated that Health professionals frequently go unnoticed and unreported cases of elder abuse. Health professionals’ different levels of knowledge about abuse of the older adults; insufficient training in recognizing the signs of abuse on older adults, specifically financial abuse; restricted availability to standard screening and assessment tools; and insufficient organizational support to aid the reporting of identified cases of elder abuse are all common reasons for underreporting. Abuse of the elderly people has been considered as a kind of family violence in Victoria, Australia, where this study was done, including violence perpetrated by persons who are not relatives. There is also a need for consistent screening tools that may be utilized in conjunction with the services provided, as no clear and simple screening technique is currently suggested to be used regularly.

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According to the research conducted by Smith et al. (2022) staffs working in the residential aged care services (RACS) have significant gaps in their understanding on how to avoid and resolve unwanted sexual behaviour (USB). USB is sometimes referred to as improper sexual behaviour (ISB) when it is displayed by people showing the signs of cognitive impairment and is unsuitable in the social setting in which it occurs. Sexual assault can be considered as the most concealed, least accepted, and least reported kind of elder abuse, as evidenced by the fact that it is the least acknowledged and at the same time least reported form of elderly abuse.

According to the research conducted by Williams et al. (2022) a significant number of RAC employees are hardly informed about the dementia-specific support programmes and education. Only one person in every four people received dementia-specific support services, despite the fact that almost two-thirds received such education. Strategies to raise knowledge of and access to these services are needed to improve the quality of care for those persons diagnosed with dementia.

According to the research conducted by Francis?Coad et al. (2019) it has been indicated that In RAC settings, falls are related with significant numbers of adverse clinical events and can also be considered as an example of neglect. If care professionals in RAC settings have the relevant knowledge and abilities, they can have a significant impact on residents’ behaviors to prevent falls. Care professionals are unlikely to recognize vulnerable persons among the aged care residents who are at risk of fall and to take any action so that falls can be avoided.

The first knowledge gap which could be identified from the above discussion include lack of training, knowledge and awareness among the RAC staffs regarding the health condition and illnesses experienced by the older adults. For example, in the RAC sector, there is an apparent demand for dementia-specific training at all levels. While RAC employees have access to a variety of high-quality health education tools specifically to increase their knowledge regarding dementia and other age-related disorders, support services, the staffs might help in raising awareness and promote uptake. This particular are requires more attention and improvement of the policies.

Knowledge Gaps Identified From The Literature Reviewed

Another gap which could be identified in this aspect included lack of screening tools with the help of which elderly abuse or neglect can be detected. This have led to high prevalence of abuse and poor quality of life among the aged care residents.

Knowledge gap of the residential care staffs is one of the main barriers which impact provision of appropriate care to the elderly patients living in the aged care homes. Implementation of a self-guided e-learning instructional course highlighting the national and international human rights approaches to sexual assault might be beneficial in spreading awareness regarding the impact of elderly abuse among the healthcare staffs (Smith et al., 2022). The intervention was timely, informative, and useful. The findings help to provide a more complete picture of the specific training subjects that are relevant and valuable to RACS employees. In RACS, e-learning tools could be a good way to teach USB. The intervention might be a good way to get people to think about their work and make changes (Fetherstonhaugh et al., 2022).

In order to enhance understanding of core risk factor impact and acceptance of evidence-based preventive interventions, residential aged care providers should interact with care personnel to deliver personalized falls education that incorporates learning preferences and targets knowledge gaps. As a result, neglecting attitude of the aged care staffs towards the elderly people can be mitigated. Despite their strong motivation, care personnel only have a limited amount of time to provide assistance to the residents in preventing falls due to their busy schedules. To ensure resident safety, RAC management as well as funding agencies must consider how care personnel can fulfil this critical function.

As a student nurse, it is my responsibility to be aware of the strategies that would safeguard and improve the health outcomes of the older adults living in the residential care homes. Advocacy and ensuring justice for the patients are considered to important aspects in nursing practice. Nurses must be able to recognize when abuse is being committed and analyses the situation in order to implement appropriate interventions. Without prior knowledge regarding the current scenario and area of improvements, I would not be able to implement appropriate interventions as a newly registered nurse. Hence it is important for me to incorporate evidence- based strategies which might effectively prevent the RAC staffs from elderly abuse.

Conclusion

Hence considering the information from the above discussion it can be concluded that staff at residential aged care facilities require proper training and education so that they understand the clinical issues experienced by the older persons in details and attempt to resolve those accordingly.

References

Abc.net.au, 2020. Abuse in aged care homes ‘much higher than even the most cynical of us consider possible’. [online] Abc.net.au. Available at: <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-22/royal-commission-estimates-40-pc-aged-care-residents-face-abuse/13007864> [Accessed 20 April 2022].

Brijnath, B., Gahan, L., Gaffy, E., & Dow, B. (2020). “Build rapport, otherwise no screening tools in the world are going to help”: frontline service providers’ views on current screening tools for elder abuse. The Gerontologist, 60(3), 472-482. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny166

Fetherstonhaugh, D., Rayner, J. A., Solly, K., Beattie, E., Harrington, A., Jeon, Y. H., … & Parker, D. (2022). Teaching the care of older people in Australian nursing schools: Survey findings. Collegian. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1322769622000403

Francis?Coad, J., Hang, J. A., Etherton?Beer, C., Ellis, A., & Hill, A. M. (2019). Evaluation of care staff knowledge, confidence, motivation and opportunity for preventing falls in residential aged care settings: a cross?sectional survey. International journal of older people nursing, 14(2), e12224. Prevalence Of Elderly Abuse And Neglect Discussion Paper