Elder abuse refers to the lack of pertinent action resulting in harm to an elderly individual. Failure to meet the expectations of senior people can also put at risk their mental and physical wellbeing. Elder maltreatment can occur in various settings, including family and specialized establishments for elderly adults. Therefore, negligence of their expectations constitutes a serious problem to the welfare of contemporary society. Abuse and neglect in later life have been acknowledged as an urgent problem in the United States and the tendency is likely to worsen unless effective measures are taken to alleviate the problem. The research suggests that family members and caregivers are the main abusers of the elderly population and, therefore, there should be specific programs that can contribute to enhancing the quality of life of senior members of society (Hardin and Khan-Hudson, 2005). Health care professionals should also pay the closest attention to this issue to reconsider the current health care policies and introduce a new code of conduct.
Elder Abuse and Its Influence on Society
Elder maltreatment in the home should be addressed by the nurse community because it poses threats to the welfare of society. Therefore, significant concern with the problem should be expressed by the community nurse. Physicians and social workers should introduce efficient strategies encouraging transparent and immediate reporting about the cases of maltreatment and abuse. Responsibility imposes on health care providers should not be confined to precautious measures. Rather, they should actively be involved into communicating with elder individuals who are in need of assistance. The main problem is that older adults are reluctant to report about cases of abuse committed by their family members (Glauser, 2006). Despite the existence of specific laws and regulations, victims are unlikely to accuse relatives of maltreatment. What is more threatening is that an abused senior can be misinformed about the possibility to recognize the crime. They can also be fearful of reporting and being removed from their homes.
Despite the recognition of the seriousness of the problem, there exist obstacles to detecting the case of senior abuse. According to Glauser (2006), physicians “may not be familiar with reporting laws, may fear offending patients or their abuses, or are concerned with the time limitations in the emergency department” (p. 16). Moreover, health care providers prefer staying on safe ground in order to avoid state involvement in the issue. Elder patient’s physical and mental conditions can also be a decisive factor for insufficient reporting about maltreatment. Many elderly people can suffer from such serious diseases as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis leading to sever disorder or immobilization (Glauser, 2006). As a result, their requests and concerns are also ignored.
Safety and security of the elderly population should also involve legal assistance and advocacy because it contributes to creating emergency shelters and obtaining long-term aid services. Emergency physicians, therefore, should be aware of the approaches to assessing the seriousness of the problem and providing viable solutions. Within these perspectives, elderly abuse has become the central issue in terms of ethical, legal, and clinical dilemmas. The role of the community lies in developing new directions at improving social awareness and expanding the influence of social work practice. According to Donovan, and Regehr (2010), “social work practitioners working with abused and neglected elders should be familiar with risk factors and symptoms of elder abuse and neglect and situational and/or sociocultural factors which may be important in the assessment and intervention for abused elders” (p. 176). Moreover, social workers engaged into the community activities should also be familiar with academic disciplines that can promote better treatment of abused and maltreated senior individuals. A multidisciplinary approach can produce positive effects on treating elder people suffering from negligence.
Influence of Elder Abuse Issue on the Nursing Profession
The problem of elder maltreatment must be brought to the attention of health care professionals, as well as to the elderly people’s relatives. Adults over the age of 65 living both at home or in long-term care establishments can face risks of abuse and neglect (Muehlbauer and Crane, 2006). Under these circumstances, nurses should realize the causes, signs, and symptoms of senior abuse to provide the corresponding measures. Having a greater awareness of the problem can allow nurses to reduce the negative consequences of negligence for older adults.
As the population of the United States ages, requirements established toward health care organizations in terms of older adults care have become strict. Muehlbauer and Crane (2006) argues, “more than 36 million people who live in the United States are older than 65 and 600,000 older adults will require assisted living” (p. 45). Despite the increased awareness expressed by health care institutions, most of the cases of senior maltreatment occur at homes and, therefore, there are many cases of intense abuse. Under such conditions, older adults become the victims of caregivers who mistreat, exploit, and injure their patients. Underreporting is among the most serious problems because it prevents the health care organization from controlling and reducing the harms to elder individuals.
Nurses play an important role in managing, detecting and preventing elder abuse. They may be the only professionals outside the family environment who can regularly contact with senior people. Muehlbauer and Crane (2006) state, “nurses are uniquely qualified to perform physical and psychological assessment, order confirmatory diagnostic tests… and collaborative with physicians and protective services” (p. 45). Therefore, it is important to provide nurses with proper education about elder maltreatment to be able to detect the problem at early stages. In particular, the training programs should include definitions of various kinds of abuse, as well as their symptoms and signs. The point is that abused seniors might not be able to articulate clearly the face of abuse. They may also be hesitant and fearful of reporting about the cases of abuse.
The reality is that not all community nurses can perform the function of social workers because of their insufficient awareness of how elderly people can be treated efficiently. The problem is that older adults with signs of dementia can still preserve necessary decision-making capacity and, therefore, it is difficult to assess their social skills. In this respect, geriatrists and psychiatrists should be engaged into the issue to define the consequences of these decisions, as well as provide necessary legal interventions. To proceed with the issue, geriatric abuse can be reconsidered with introduction of emergency departments (Glauser, 2006). Although geriatric care is still evolving, it should be included into the strategies ensuring safety and welfare of senior individuals.
A Letter to the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse
The fact that the issue of elder abuse needs to be taken into the deepest consideration is undeniable. The community should not rely merely on health care providers to solve the problems. Rather, the society itself should take active steps for preventing the cases of negligence and maltreatment toward its most vulnerable members. This problems should be addressed beyond the context of clinical practice and refer to ethical and legal issues. This is of particular concern to cross-cultural issues that pose a serious dilemma to the health care professionals. Therefore, your organization should pay more attention to the cultural and social background of older adults to be able to integrate more efficient methods for reducing the rates of abuse.
In order to treat the issue effectively, the action plan should engage nurse professionals into specialized training programs. Learning definitions, signs, and symptoms of abuse and neglect can reduce the number of victims. Volunteer organizations are also of high importance for promoting the advocacy plan because it can bring in shifts to social awareness. More importantly, the statistical data introduced by the National Committee can also be used as a basis for transparent reporting. In particular, both social workers and community nurses should regularly report about their work, as well as about the abuse case.
Finally, there should also be the emergency department for geriatric workers to take care of the victims of home abuse. The measure can significantly improve the reporting system as well. Additional, emergency departments can also contribute to the increasing awareness of social engagement of elderly individuals into the program of reporting. They can become less fearful of the consequences of informing about maltreatment. Proper consideration of the issue should promote the problem solving.
References
Donovan, K., & Regehr, C. (2010). Elder Abuse: Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Considerations in Social Work Practice. Clinical Social Work Journal, 38(2), 174-182.
Glauser, J. (2006). Elder Abuse and Society’s Response. Emergency Medicine News, 28(1), p. 14.
Hardin, E., & Khan-Hudon, A. (2005). Elder Abuse: “Society’s Dilemma”. Journal of the National Medical Association, 97(1), 91-94.
Muehlbauer, M., & Crane, P. (2006). Elder Abuse and Neglect. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, 44(11), 43-48.