The ethical guidelines and principles that guide nurses in the protection of the elderly abuse are as follows:
• Be understanding kind and caring to all patients that are in your care
• Protect patients privacy and dignity while in your care
• Always listen to what the patient is telling you and ty your best to help them and make them feel safe, secure and cared for.
• Keep a kit book of all the patient’s belongings and keep all the patients valuables in a safe which they may collect once they are ready to go home.
• Make sure the patient understands the procedures and medicine being taken
• Also ask the patient for consent before performing any procedure or administering any medication.
• Speak to the patient in a manner and language in
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This means that we need to stand up for the patient and speak on the patients behalf where we feel that the patient is unable to do so for themselves. If mental, sexual, financial or physical abuse is suspected then it is the nurses duty to try and find out from the patient what is happening and who is abusing them. Once the nurse has a good idea of who is abusing the patient he/she needs to speak on behalf of the patient to SANC, the matrom of the ward, the patients family and potentially even the police if need be.
Performing an assessment:
The nurse concerned about the patient’s wellbeing should ask the patient about the way in which they are being treated, check the patients skin integrity as well as looks for any bruises or signs of physical or sexual abuse on the patient’s body. The nurse should observe the way in which the patient acts towards each staff member (are they afraid, permissive, angry, scared around a particular member of staff?) The nurse concerned could ask the family to make sure that the patient has not withdrawn large sums of money out of their bank account or keep a record of what the patient is spending their money on incase of financial abuse. The nurse concerned could also ask the family for any behavioral changes in the patient since a certain care giver started looking after the patient or since they had been admitted into the care of the