models for interventions for hospitalized elders
Older patients face several hospital hazards. The risks include delirium, which occurs in approximately 33% of hospitalized patients over the age of 65. Statistics also indicate that about 70 percent of patients in the Intensive Care Units report cases of delirium. Causes of delirium include severe illness, abnormal routines, exposure to new medications, and sleep disturbance. Another common hazard among hospitalized older patients is ulcers, which affect more than one million older adults globally every year. More hazards include older patients facing several medical issues that may require assistance from different specialists. Sometimes it becomes challenging for the patient to coordinate. Older patients also risk falling, leading to physical injuries, malnutrition, and acquiring infectious diseases such as pneumonia that are common in hospitals due to serious infecting organisms that make it difficult to treat.
The models for interventions for hospitalized elders include adopting the Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders Program that trains and provides nurses with resources that may help them improve care for older adults in hospitals. Another framework that could be used to enhance geriatric care is the Acute Care of Elders (ACE) that was developed in the 1990s and focused on holistic and medical care. It involves the use of patient-centered care, such as assessment of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial functions. Hospitals can adopt the Hospitalized Elder Life Program (HELP) that was developed in 1999 and aims to retain physical and cognitive among elderly patients, assist in transition after older patients are discharged from hospital, maximize independence when patients return home and reduce the likelihood of patients getting readmitted. Hospitals can also reinforce function-focused care(FFC), whereby nurses assist patients in performing functions such as eating, washing, and taking, and taking medications.