Reflective Essay on Integrated Care for the Aged

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Reflective Essay on Integrated Care for the Aged







Reflective essay

























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The reflective essay is based on my understanding of the integrated care model. Integrated health care is referred to the setting involving specialized medical setting, social service sites, community-based setting, primary care, and long term care setting that supports the ageing population in their health care. Multi-morbidity is referred to the condition involving more than one chronic disease among the ageing population. The reason that led to multi-morbidity among older people is due to social engagement, functional capacity, and well-being. The approaches that are linked with the integrated care model include the development of the ageing community in order to ensure the sense of community belonging among aged people which is possible with the help of a partnership between social services and healthcare. The essay will be focused on evaluating the integrated care model for the aged people by analyzing the ways for the preservation of self-determination among them followed by identifying the changes of physiology linked with the age of the people. Further, the essay will include the strategies for addressing the effects of physiological changes by linking them with the integrated care model.

Integrated health care based on my understanding is referred to the setting involving specialized medical setting, social service sites, community-based setting, primary care, and long term care setting that supports the ageing population in their health care. The quality of life among people with older age can be improved with the help of self-determination preservation. According to my perception, self-determination involves the decision making or autonomy of deciding on various life decisions among older people. I will support the self-determination among the older people by developing good relationships due to the reason of trust so that I can support them in making their own decision of lives. The development of a positive relationship with the old people help me in motivating them for sharing all the information related to their wishes and personal issues. Based on one of my readings, lacking in the consideration of the needs and wishes of the old people and focusing on the organization’s perspective for the care results in adverse impacts on the self-determination of the older people (Bölenius et al., 2019). In addition, the autonomy of the people is among the ethics that should be considered by the healthcare workers however, the dependency of the older people for their health results in decrement of their self-determination (Moilanen et al., 2021).

The consideration of self-determination among old people according to my perception requires supporting behaviour towards them instead of judging them for their behaviour or wishes. I will ensure that I will help them in making their own decision that not only improves their quality of life but also ensures ethics in my healthcare service. In addition, I will encourage the old people for participating in the activities based on their capabilities. According to Hammar et al (2018), self-determination among old people can be perceived by encouraging them to participate in the activities based on the capabilities residing among them. This will help me in increasing their focus on their strengths instead of their diseases and incapability. The approach including person-centred care helps in emphasizing the decision making among the aged people resulting in the preservation of self-determination among them (Hammar et al., 2018). As per my reading of the study conducted by Ottenvall Hammar et al (2016), the conditions that need to be fulfilled by preserving self-determination among the aged people include the sense of security, safety, and involvement. Decision making is required in each activity of our life and in order to encourage and support older people in making their decision, I will ensure that they share all the information related to their preferences so that I can encourage them in taking their decision by respecting their feeling and wishes not only in the medical care by also in their participation in several activities.

Multi-morbidity is referred to the condition involving more than one chronic disease among the ageing population. The reason that led to multi-morbidity among older people according to my understanding is due to lack of social engagement, functional capacity, and well-being. In addition, the factors that also results in multi-morbidity among the ageing population include lack of social support and social network resulting in the increment of loneliness among them (Bezerra de Souza et al., 2021). Ageing involves various factors resulting in the degeneration of tissues and organ systems among people. The process of ageing can be categorized into three groups involving decrement in the organ mass, cellular homeostatic mechanism, and functional reserve loss (Amarya et al., 2018). According to my opinion, the care provided to the people residing in the ageing population requires to be focused on understanding their needs and demands of them in order to support them in making their decision and encouraging them for participating in social activities. Lack of social support and network adversely affects the quality of living among ageing people can be increased by supporting them in participating in the social activities residing with the capabilities available in the particular person. In other words, the encouragement for the aged person on their capabilities helps in the preservation of their determination by supporting them in taking part in the activities that reside with the requirement of the capability possessed by the individual. The person-centred approach for healthcare that involves a partnership with the client in order to understand their needs and preferences regardless of compromised structured listening or communication supports improvement in the healthcare services offered by the organization (Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2022).

I believe that the improvement in the well-being of ageing people with the help of increasing their social network and support requires a holistic approach involving the strategies such as maximization of their engagement, improvement in the opportunities including social interaction, and sustaining and building effective partnership among them. The social connection as per my reading of the study by Suragarn et al (2021), the signs that display the social connection include the sense of community belonging, a feeling of care, and caring for others. The approaches that will help in enhancing the social connection among the ageing population include the intergenerational program involving the partnership between older and younger generations. The approach will involve the contribution of the older generation in providing skills, wisdom, affection, values, and attention to the younger generation. Another approach that will support the social connection as per my opinion includes an ageing friendly community for the development of a sense of community belonging in order to help the ageing population due to the promotion of psychosocial well-being among them due to maintenance of meaningful connection socially (Tao et al., 2021). Apart from this, the physical group activity based on the community will support the maintenance of good health among the ageing population (Suragarn et al., 2021).

Integrated health care based on my understanding is referred to the setting involving specialized medical setting, social service sites, community-based setting, primary care, and long term care setting that supports the ageing population in their health care. The chronic care model also suggests that the partnership with the organization of community and encouragement of the patients for their participation in the programs conducted by the community results in a positive influence on the living quality and patient outcomes due to meeting the needs and demands of the patients related to social network and connection (World Health Organization, 2016). In addition, my opinion resides with the culture that promoted high-quality care and safety of the clients in order to ensure positive patient outcomes. The model of integrated care suggests the integration of social services and health care facilities in meeting individual needs and demands (Briggs et al., 2018). As per my interpretation, the approaches such as community-based activities for the ageing people can be supported by the integrated care models involving the integration between social services and healthcare will help in encouraging the aged people to participate in order to develop a sense of community belonging among them.

According to the above discussion, it can be concluded that integrated health care based on my understanding is referred to the setting involving specialized medical setting, social service sites, community-based setting, primary care, and long term care setting that supports the ageing population in their health care. The reason that results in loneliness among aged people includes due to social engagement, functional capacity, and well-being leading to morbidity. One of the strategies that help in the preservation of self-determination among aged people includes their encouragement towards participation in the programs based on community. The essay was focused on evaluating the integrated care model for the aged people by analyzing the ways for the preservation of self-determination among them followed by identifying the changes of physiology linked with the age of the people in order to determine the strategies. Social connection and network among the aged population is supported by the partnership approach involving the integration of social service and health care.

References

Amarya, S., Singh, K., & Sabharwal, M. (2018). Ageing process and physiological changes. In Gerontology. IntechOpen. https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/60564

Bezerra de Souza, D. L., Oliveras-Fabregas, A., Espelt, A., Bosque-Prous, M., de Camargo Cancela, M., Teixidó-Compañó, E., & Jerez-Roig, J. (2021). Multimorbidity and its associated factors among adults aged 50 and over: A cross-sectional study in 17 European countries. PLoS One16(2), e0246623. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246623

Bölenius, K., Lämås, K., Sandman, P. O., Lindkvist, M., & Edvardsson, D. (2019). Perceptions of self-determination and quality of life among Swedish home care recipients-a cross-sectional study. BMC geriatrics19(1), 1-9. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12877-019-1145-8

Briggs, A. M., Valentijn, P. P., Thiyagarajan, J. A., & de Carvalho, I. A. (2018). Elements of integrated care approaches for older people: a review of reviews. BMJ open8(4), e021194. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/8/4/e021194.full.pdf

Hammar, I. O., Berglund, H., Dahlin-Ivanoff, S., Faronbi, J., & Gustafsson, S. (2018). Risk for depression affects older people’s possibilities to exercise self-determination in using time, social relationships and living life as one wants: A cross-sectional study with frail older people. Health Psychology Research6(1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6280073/

Moilanen, T., Kangasniemi, M., Papinaho, O., Mynttinen, M., Siipi, H., Suominen, S., & Suhonen, R. (2021). Older people’s perceived autonomy in residential care: An integrative review. Nursing ethics28(3), 414-434. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0969733020948115

Ottenvall Hammar, I., Dahlin-Ivanoff, S., Wilhelmson, K., & Eklund, K. (2016). Self-determination among community-dwelling older persons: explanatory factors. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy23(3), 198-206. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Isabelle-Hammar/publication/290434304_Self-determination_among_community-dwelling_older_persons_explanatory_factors/links/59e4cba6458515393d611eec/Self-determination-among-community-dwelling-older-persons-explanatory-factors.pdf

Safetyandquality.gov.au. (2022). Partnering with patients in their own care. Retrieved 8 March 2022, from https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/partnering-consumers-standard/partnering-patients-their-own-care.

Suragarn, U., Hain, D., & Pfaff, G. (2021). Approaches to enhance social connection in older adults: An integrative review of literature. Aging and Health Research1(3), 100029. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667032121000275

Tao, Y., Zhang, W., Gou, Z., Jiang, B., & Qi, Y. (2021). Planning walkable neighborhoods for “aging in place”: Lessons from five aging-friendly districts in Singapore. Sustainability13(4), 1742. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1742/pdf

World Health Organization. (2016). Integrated care models: an overview. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/322475/Integrated-care-models-overview.pdf



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