Application of Theory in Nursing Home

In general, my work placement focuses its care to older adults with ages ranging from 65 to 95 years old. This group of vulnerable clients has health conditions which are degenerative and irreversible like Dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Their abilities to manage themselves in every day of their lives are major issues for their health and safety because their memories have stopped in recognizing their routines and even their own surroundings are becoming unfamiliar. The NHS (2013) has pointed out that Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) and people with this kind of mental condition can become apathetic or may lost interest in their usual activities. They may also find planning and organizing as challenging. Thus, a person with dementia becomes more helpless and will definitely need of help from families and friends.

Forster (2003) cited that the use of models of care helps health care facilities meet the service users’ needs. It is important that nurses assess the service user according to his needs because the selection of a particular model will depend on the assessment results. For example, after Mrs. B was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and became frail; her activities of daily living were compromised and therefore needed to be admitted in order to meet her nursing needs. For the reason that majority of the service users in the facility do not have the same condition as Mrs. B, their care is individualized according to their everyday needs and conditions.

In order to meet the service users’ everyday needs, the use of Roper, Logan and Tierney’s ‘Activities of Living’ model is used. By its definition, this model concentrates mainly on physical aspects of nursing care; however, it also describes the different issues of adults and older service users (RCN 2013). This model is widely utilized in the United Kingdom and is also referred as ‘Human Needs Model’. One of its theorists, Roper, stated that in a given scenario where people can independently carry out their activities of daily living but when illnesses attack, the nurse uses these activities of daily living to assess the service users and plan for intervention that can help and encourage the service users to be independent in some areas that maybe difficult for them. The model measures the individual’s capabilities for independence in ADLs, in order to identify what interventions will lead to more independence and what assistance will be needed to compensate for dependency.

                                        

A testimony from Miss Guillian Larmour, Senior Staff Nurse in Ashbrook Care Home with regards to the use of Roper Logan Tierney Theory in a nursing home.

Juddilyn Santiago, RN

Staff Nurse

Ashbrook Care Home, UK