Literature Review: Long-Term Care Settings

The literature review has been a very stressful and overwhelming process. If I were to do things differently next time, I would start this entire process earlier. Two weeks does not seem like nearly enough time to write a decent literature review when I am occupied with all my other classes as well as a job. It has been extremely challenging, because I have a literature review for another class due at the same time as well. If I were to give an incoming student advice about an assignment like this, I would advise them to start as early as possible. I started my research for the project soon after topics were assigned and still felt overwhelmed. Therefore, in order to ensure you are successful, start as soon as possible and break the paper down

Some of these settings include long-term care facilities, ambulatory care, hospital outpatient departments, emergency rooms, and public and neighborhood health agency clinics. While these settings may seem similar, each has its own unique function. The first type of health care setting is a long-term care facility, such as a nursing home. This type of facility usually provides assistance to its residents either through “’supportive, rehabilitative, nursing or palliative services” (Goldsteen & Golsteen, 2013, p. 54). Long-term care facilities can vary in the level of assistance they provide for their residents. For instance, some facilities such as nursing homes can provide care around the clock for their residents; other assisted living facilities may provide less care, which allows their residents to remain more independent (Goldsteen & Goldsteen, 2013). Ambulatory care facilities include health care visits that are made outside of the inpatient hospital setting (Goldsteen & Goldsteen, 2013). Millions of people receive care in an ambulatory care setting each year, and “in 2007, there were 1.2 billion ambulatory patient visits” (Goldsteen & Goldsteen, 2013, p. 56). For example, a routine annual visit at my doctor’s office where I received a checkup and a flu shot would be an example of an ambulatory care

Neighborhood health clinics provide routine, preventive and affordable services. However, neighborhood health clinics also provide job opportunities and skill development with the intent of stopping “the cycle of poverty” (Goldsteen & Goldsteen, p.65). According to Goldsteen and Goldsteen (2013), hospitals were once associated with the poor and sick, or thought as places where people were sent to die. However, hospitals have shed this image, and now patients have a 97% chance of leaving the hospital alive today (Goldsteen & Golsteen, 2013). The hospital setting was able to transform from a dangerous setting to an advanced health care facility through improvements in sanitation, overall medical care, and changes in power (Starr, 1982). During the late 1700’s hospitals tried to make themselves look more attractive to the upper class by sending away those who were contagious, poor, or terminally ill to the almshouse (Starr, 1982). This practice was misleading because it made it appear as if the hospitals had a lower mortality rate, which helped the hospital, shed “its image of death” (Starr, 1982, p.