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What Are Some Ethical Issues In Long Term Care

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Reading this article for the elderly care, I feel that ethical issues commonly occur anywhere in the treatment of older patients. I had a clinical experience both in an acute-care hospital and in a long-term care facility. Before working in a long-term facility, I was not aware of how many ethical principles were violated in the treatment of older patients as a daily routine as stated in the article. In reality, there are many situations in which older patients don’t completely exhibit their autonomy because they are vulnerable physically and emotionally and dependent on others. Therefore, they become more conscious of caregivers or healthcare professionals. In some cases, a patient’s family states an opinion of the patient’s care plan before …show more content…

Given that her mentality was not severely impaired and she expressed refusal, I ended up letting her wander in a limited area while observing her behavior, and then she went to sleep after an hour or so. Working in a long-term facility requires a lot of clinical judgment and high morale from healthcare professionals because there are many patients with cognitive problems who are not aware of how they are treated. Therefore, healthcare professionals should be an advocate for older patients and respect their rights based on ethical principles. To do that, healthcare professionals should reflect their behaviors frequently to see if they respect patients’ rights, and it is also important for healthcare professionals to get proper education on ethical principles. In addition, it is essential to develop a trusting relationship between a nurse and a patient because in the relationship, healthcare professionals can communicate with older patients about their wishes and care preferences more truthfully and honestly, which in turn helps patients to make decisions about their own treatment and healthcare professionals to feel less moral

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