Aged Care Management Assignment: Impact Of E-Communication

Question

Task:
Write a report on aged care management assignment exploring the role of e-communication within aged care management to bridge imminent communication gap.

Answer

Introduction
The current aged care management assignment illustrates that in healthcare scenario, the aged care management refers to the process of outlining and coordinating the care for elderly patients and others with the mental and physical impairments to mitigate their needs of long-term treatment with improving their quality life along with maintaining their independence to an extent. Thus, the present aged care management assignment focuses upon the issues within aged care management and the communication strategy to mitigate it.

An issue in healthcare relevant to aged care management
In the recent healthcare industry, the Aged Care Management is evolving with the growing counts of elderly patients requiring quality services along with the complex medical demand of the residents. As argued by You et al., (2016), sometimes the patients are not able to communicate details of their sufferings to the healthcare providers effectively, for which the treatment procedures might be hampered. Hence, one of the frequent and prime issues occurring within the aged care management is regarding Consultation and Communication. As observed by Baldwin et al., (2017), it is noted herein aged care management assignment that when their family puts the elderly patients into the aged-care settings, they expect the healthcare worker to provide quality care to them. However, there is a shortcoming of Consultation and Communication within the aged care unit as many of the aged person’s family has proposed the complaint of getting excluded from the essential decisions made for treating the patient. Therefore, they become unaware of the changes made within the process of care and treatment given to the patients. Thus, with the gap of consultation and communication, the decision and choice excludes some key people, which should not be done. As observed by Jeon et al., (2017), 4 out of every 20 elderly patient complaints about failure in consultation and communication.

Thus, the argument raised on the aged care management assignment signifies that with the limitation of communication and consultation, many other allied issues arise within the aged care management such as medication management, as the medication is very frequent for aged patients; however, with the incorrect administration of the same can cause serious health complication to the patients. Nevertheless, as viewed by Dawes and Topp, (2019), there are other shortcomings related to Consultation and communication such as lack of Personal and oral hygiene, ill management of Constipation and Incontinence and more. Thus, these factors cause health-hazardous issues for the patients and their families’ complaint regarding the negative experiences and outcomes caused to them.

What is the role of communication strategy for mitigating the issue outlined in the context of aged care management assignment?
As proposed by Gillham et al., (2018), communication plays the most essential role in maintaining the aged care autonomy along with self-sense that ultimately improves the physical and mental well being of the elderly patients. Thus, there are certain communication strategies as illustrated in this segment of aged care management assignment which can be used for bridging the communication gap and improving the outcome, which can be stated as follows:

• Talking positively to the patients and maintaining a e-record of all the details on the portal for the patients, so that all the healthcare providers are able to access the same. A link to the portal would also be provided to the family members as well, for cross-checking and editing facts, if required
• Informing the patient as well as their families regarding the treatment process and the medication used or going to be used for the patient, through emails, rather than conventional communication channels
• Sharing views regarding any piece of information revealed by the patients, which should be conveyed to the family members, like the views of the patients regarding Advanced care Directives of their decisions to choose their way of getting treated, over designated social media portals or through emails (Drop et al., 2017)
• The utilisation of individualised books of memories should be encouraged, which helps in improving and keeping up the communication skills.
• Maintaining an e-record of the dosages of medicines, the time of administration, a details of the tests carried out on the patients as well as its reports and other such information and sharing it with the patient party, so that they are updated about the condition of the patient, even without conversing with the nurses (Conway and Chenery, 2016).

The e-communication methods examined in the contents of aged care management assignment would help in bridging the imminent gaps in communication between patient, their family members and the healthcare service providers and thus, would help in streamlining the process.

Conclusion
The present focus of aged care management assignment is upon the concept of aged care management within the healthcare sectors. However, it mainly highlights the issue of Consultation and Communication within the Aged care management that affects the experience and outcome of elderly patients. Thus, the perfect communication strategy to mitigate the issue is illustrated in the study.

References
Baldwin, R., Chenoweth, L., dela Rama, M. and Wang, A.Y., 2017. Does size matter in aged care facilities? A literature review of the relationship between the number of facility beds and quality. Health care management review, 42(4), pp.315-327.

Conway, E.R. and Chenery, H.J., 2016. Evaluating the MESSAGE Communication Strategies in Dementia training for use with community?based aged care staff working with people with dementia: a controlled pretest–post?test study. Aged care management assignment Journal of Clinical Nursing, 25(7-8), pp.1145-1155.

Dawes, N. and Topp, S., 2019. Senior management characteristics that influence care quality in aged care homes: A global scoping review. International Journal of Healthcare Management, pp.1-13.

Drop, K.M., Drop, B. and Skolimowski, M., 2017. Patient-doctor communication in healthcare facilities–part II. Zeszyty Naukowe KUL, 60(2), pp.425-444.

Gillham, D., De Bellis, A., Xiao, L., Willis, E., Harrington, A., Morey, W. and Jeffers, L., 2018. Using research evidence to inform staff learning needs in cross-cultural communication in aged care homes. Nurse education today, 63, pp.18-23.

Jeon, Y.H., Merlyn, T., Sansoni, E. and Glasgow, N., 2017. Optimising the residential aged care workforce: leadership & management study.

Okwuofu-Thomas, B., Beggs, P.J. and MacKenzie, R.J., 2017. A Comparison of Heat Wave Response Plans From an Aged Care Facility Perspective. Journal of environmental health, 79(8).

You, E.C., Dunt, D. and Doyle, C., 2016. Important case management goals in community aged care practice and key influences. Aged care management assignment Care Management Journals, 17(1), pp.47-60.