Gerontology Paper

A nursing home is a long term facility in which it provides healthcare to those who are in need of constant supervision and personal care services such as eating and personal hygiene (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). When designing a nursing home, certain conditions are obligatory to be met. The facility will be addressing patients of the age of sixty-five and older with a physical disability or a mental disability, or both, with varying degrees of decline. One must take into consideration the sensory, physical, health, cognitive, and social aspects of an older adult and try to optimize the facility to offer maximum support and comfort by providing safe architecture and promising programs of improvements. The staff of that of a nursing home should include registered nurses, fully licensed practical nurse, psychiatric nurses, and palliative care nurses (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). Personal care workers should be available as well. Other staff members would include that of physicians, nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, housekeepers, and administrators (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). As a designer of a new nursing home, the first and foremost problem that needs to be address is the interior design. Starting with the lighting system, nursing homes should not have any fluorescent lighting due to the vast amount of glare they emits (Malkin, 1993). Glare is the cause of the red pigments in the light spectrum that causes restlessness and agitation to the residents of the nursing home (Malkin, 1993). A full spectrum lighting that has a complete balance of all the colours that resembles that of natural sunlight, providing three times the brightness of regular light would benefit the older adults to see better contrast (Malkin, 1993). Orientation is another troubling cause for older adults. A nursing home should not have a poor way of direction - corridors should not all

References: Brasgold, Melissa. (2012). Psychosocial Aspects of Aging. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa. Canadian Nurses Association. (2008). The Long-Term Care Environment: Improving Outcomes Through Staffing Decisions. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Nurses Association. Cavanaugh, John C., Blanchard-Fields, Fredda, & norris, Joan E. (2008). Adult Development and Aging (1st Canadian ed.). Toronto, ON: Thomas/Nelson. Chalfont, Garuth. (2006). Connection to Nature at the Building Edge: Towards a Therapeutic Architecture for Dementia Care Environments. Sheffield, England: University of Sheffield. Chwang, L-C. (2012). Nutrition and dietetics in aged care. Taiwan: Nutrition & Dietetics. Janus, Andrea. (2008). Multi-sensory environments provide relief, escape. Canada: CTV.ca News. Malkin, Jain. (1993). Looking Good: What Designs Work Best for Residents. San Diego, CA: Jain Malkin. Nickerson, Susan. (2011). Improving Memory Loss - How to Help the Aging Brain. ArticleBiz.com Designing A Nursing Home: Needs and Requirements Thursday, November 14, 2012 School of Psychology