Organization of nursing care for elderly people in hospital

Individualised patient care

It is assumed that individualised patient care benefits both patients and nurses. This study set out to clarify what individualised patient care means to nurses and how they practise it as well as how it is experienced by patients. With some exceptions, individualised patient care was not practised widely in the seven wards that were used as case studies. Even in the wards where individualised patient care was more common, there were some examples of bad practice. Factors that facilitated individualised patient care were: the personal qualities of the nurses themselves; a shared understanding among the ward team of the goals of nursing care and what constitutes good practice; levels of staffing and skill mix; and effective leadership and management of nursing work [ NTResearch 1996; 1: 1, 22-33]

Age-related hearing loss in the dependent elderly population: a model for nursing care

Advancing nursing care through the implementation of evidence-based practice is a legitimate professional ideal. In reality there are many complex issues that need be addressed before such a goal can be achieved. This paper takes an intermediate step towards the realization of this aim in one aspect of continuing care nursing through the presentation of a procedural model. The presented model is designed to stimulate debate as to what could be, and arguably should be the role of the nurse in relation to meeting the auditory rehabilitative needs of dependent elderly patients. The model is based upon a published management model which outlines the auditory rehabilitative process within a psychosocial framework. The original model has been modified as a result of knowledge synthesis from a range of specialist disciplines including nursing. The Audiological Care Model for Nursing is intended to offer an accessible guide to this often neglected aspect of care.