Role Opportunities for Nurses in Community Care in Elderly

Role opportunities for nurses in Community Care in elderly
Community nurses focus on
•Health promotion
•Disease prevention
•Wellness (Westley & Fletcher, 2004 cited in Stanhope & Lancaster, 2004).

To achieve these goals, nurses are involved in
•Client and community education
•Counselling
•Advocacy
•Care management (Westley & Fletcher, 2004 cited in Stanhope & Lancaster, 2004).

Health promotion:
Community nurses may inform health promotion strategies according to individual differences. Health promotion strategies:
•Maintaining an active lifestyle (physically and mentally) •Belonging to a social network
•Feeling independent, useful and valued
•Having good nutrition
•Believing in “God”
•Having a sense of humour
•Exercising healthy coping strategies
(Ebersole & Hess, 2004; Ronch & Goldfield, 2003; Kending & Brooke, 2004)

Disease prevention:
There are three levels of prevention related to older adults. 1.Primary prevention
2.Secondary prevention (Screening)
3.Tertiary prevention (Maintenance and rehabilitation)
(Westley & Fletcher, 2004 cited in Stanhope & Lancaster, 2004; Williams & Rhead, 2003 cited in Watkins; Edwards & Gastrell, 2004) Rehabilitation is a combination of physical, occupational, psychological, and speech therapy to help debilitated persons maintain or recover their physical capacities.

Rehabilitation is typically needed for older adults after a hip fracture, stroke, or prolonged illness that results in serious deconditioning (Westley & Fletcher, 2004 cited in Stanhope & Lancaster, 2004).

Wellness:
Wellness is not merely the absence of disease or illness.Wellness includes the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual components of a person.There are five dimensions of wellness. 1.Self-responsibility

2.Nutritional awareness
3.Physical fitness
4.Stress management
5.Environmental sensitivity (Westley & Fletcher, 2004 cited in Stanhope...