Daily care categories for the elderly include

The classification of daily care for the elderly includes five major categories: basic daily care, chronic disease and medical care, special care for cognitive impairment, psychological and emotional care, and social function support care. This is the current general consensus formed by the domestic elderly care industry in conjunction with the 2024 new version of the "National Elderly Care Service Standards". However, in practice, there will be obvious differences in the classification dimensions and service boundaries of different institutions and different schools.

Let’s first talk about the basic life care that everyone is most familiar with. To put it bluntly, it means taking care of daily needs such as eating, drinking, sleeping, etc., but in practice it is far from as simple as feeding and wiping the body. I have been working in a community nursing home for 3 years, and I have seen many novices follow the operation manual and feed the disabled elderly people a full spoonful of food, only to turn around and choke the elderly people until they cough. In fact, when feeding a disabled elderly person, they should stay in a side-lying position, and the amount per spoonful should not exceed 10 ml. After eating, they should sit with support for half an hour before laying down. When wiping the body, the room temperature should be adjusted to 26 degrees. Adding some honeysuckle dew to the water can prevent prickly heat in summer. These are practical experiences that will not be written down in the manual.

Many people tend to confuse chronic disease management and basic care, but in fact they are quite different. Take Uncle Li from our inn. He has type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. It’s no use just serving him sugar-free meals. You have to remember how much staple food he eats at each meal. Test his fasting blood sugar before meals and again two hours after meals. Sometimes he secretly hides candied fruits to eat. You can’t directly attack him, you have to coax him. He said, "Let's take a bite and put it back, and I'll bring you some sugar-free peach cakes next week." In winter, you have to watch him when he wakes up, lie down for 3 minutes before sitting, and sit for 3 minutes before standing up to avoid fainting due to orthostatic hypertension. These are all chronic diseases and medical care, and you need to have basic medical knowledge to do them.

What’s interesting is that there was a quarrel in the industry two years ago about whether care for cognitive impairment should be listed separately. One group believes that this is a branch of psychological care and there is no need to classify it separately. The other group insists that elderly people with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia have completely different care logic and cannot be confused with ordinary psychological counseling. There was a grandfather Wang in our inn who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He always shouted that he was looking for his deceased wife. At first, he followed the cognitive training method and told him "Auntie is gone." As a result, he sat in the corridor crying all afternoon and refused to eat. Later, he switched to identity therapy and followed his instructions, "Auntie went to the market to buy you the soy sauce beef you like. Let's drink the porridge and wait for her to come back." He immediately calmed down. Now the industry has basically reached a consensus that special care for cognitive impairment is classified separately. After all, the core of care for these elderly people is to stabilize their emotions, not to correct their cognition.

When I first entered the industry, the most easily overlooked thing was psychological and emotional care. I always thought that it was enough to take good care of the elderly and eat and drink well. Later, I met an Aunt Zhang. After her husband left, her children were out of town and she lived in a high-end nursing community. The food and clothing were taken care of, but she sat by the window crying every day and lost 8 pounds in half a month. Later, we spent half an hour every day chatting with her about her former job as a primary school teacher, and helped her contact her former students by making video calls. Gradually, she was willing to come out and play mahjong with other elderly people, and now she is also a teacher in the handicraft class at the post station. Many formal institutions now have full-time psychological counselors in this area. It really can't be solved by just saying a few simple words.

As for the last social function support, many colleagues still think that it does not fall into the category of nursing, saying that it is a matter of community activities and there is no need to put it in the nursing category. Our post station opened a calligraphy class and choir last year. As long as the elderly who are semi-independent are willing to come, they can participate. We arrange for caregivers to support them and bring first aid kits. We have tracked the data for half a year and found that the incidence of pressure ulcers among elderly people who often come to participate in activities is 32% lower than those who stay at home every day. The score on the depression scale dropped by 40%. The reason why the 2024 version of the nursing standards includes this area is because "active elderly care" is now advocated. Instead of letting the elderly lie down and wait for others to take care of them, the functions that can be restored should be restored as much as possible, and the activities that can be participated in can be participated in as much as possible. On the contrary, many nursing problems can be reduced.

To be honest, these categories are actually a reference for novice caregivers. If you have been working for a long time, you will know that there are no clear-cut categories? When you wipe the body of an old man and praise him for the glorious things he did when he was young, it is not only life care, but also psychological care. ； Taking him to join the choir not only provides social support, but also helps him lower his blood pressure and stabilize his blood sugar. When it comes to nursing care, in the final analysis classification is dead and people are alive. How to make the elderly comfortable and secure is the core criterion.