Community/Public Health Nursing
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Post Hospital Elder Life Program
Throughout my volunteering in the hospital elder life program (HELP), I was able to work with multiple patients who were experiencing delirium. This helped me realize that by orienting the patient, socializing with them, and ensuring the patient was getting adequate sleep, nutrition, and fluids delirium can be prevented. The HELP program provides a great opportunity to ensure a patient isn’t developing delirium and if the patient is, the volunteers in the program can notify the nurse so interventions can be implemented. The most meaningful part of my HELP volunteering experience was when I got to do a friendly visit with a patient who didn’t receive many visitors. This patient…
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Pre-Hospital Elder Life Program Eportfolio Post To my knowledge currently, delirium is an acute process that frequently affects the elder population in the hospital setting. Delirium is acute confusion, which is often misunderstood as dementia. Ways to prevent delirium include assessing patient mental status at least once per shift, re-orienting patients to their room, preventing infections such as UTIs, reorienting patients to person, place, and time, and providing mind stimulating tools such as crossword puzzles or books for the patient to read. It is important to be able to recognize delirium in patients because it can impair healing in patients. I have previously experienced caring for a patient who is…
