Geriatrics is the field where you deal with old age people or elderly patients. It could become challenging due to a lot of factors. The situation could become even tough for a new nurse.There will be patients who may not be able to sit, stand or walk properly or perhaps be suffering from low vision, poor memory or even unhappier ones that a geriatric nurse has to deal with. There are certain things to take care of while you’re a nurse.
1. Handle Mood Swings
Old age people could be throwing tantrums just like children. It’s because of their age. Being a nurse, you have to attend them with care and attention trying to understand how they feel and what they expect from others. They tend to feel helpless at times and that could aggravate their moods. A lot of health issues could be bothering them too. Nurses get used to of such behavior but in the beginning it could at times be really annoying.
2. Emotional Attention
Geriatric patients demand a lot of emotional attention. They are people in the age bracket who want to be heard and paid attention to. You cannot simply ignore their expectations. They are emotionally stressed. At times, their loved ones are not completely fulfilling their emotional needs so nurses could help in this matter. Speak to them. Have short conversations with them. Show them that you care and you love to hear from them. Realizing that somebody wants to hear from them could make them happy. Give them medications on time. However, they need to be handled gently still they’re usually old and feeble.
3. Equipment should be handy
Depending on how severe the illness or sickness is, dealing with elderly patients nurses need to keep their medical equipment handy. It’s better to have pockets in your nursing uniform so that you keep important nursing accessories with you. Keeping the stethoscope or things required by doctors for checkups could be really useful. Different nursing equipment and nursing scrubs with pockets can be purchased from an online nursing uniform store. Having your equipment handy could save a lot of time in urgencies and emergencies.
4. Understand their needs
Relating to your personal or cultural values, it is a general code of conduct to be nice with old age people. Additionally, if some old age person is ill, the ones treating them and handling such patients should understand their needs. Sometimes, they are unable to reach or fetch something for themselves, in such cases nurses should be supportive and helpful. It is always good to be nice and considerate towards elderly people.
5. Cleanliness needs to be maintained
Just like babies, they could create a lot of mess. Just because they are unable to handle things properly, liquids could spill over repeatedly. They could perhaps become messy themselves. It is the task of nurses to stay informed of such things and let the janitors know if repeated cleaning is required.