Today, healthcare systems are more backed up than ever. There’s a shortage of doctors, nurses, and other clinicians in medical and care facilities. There aren’t enough beds or staff to meet the demand of sick patients.
Patients that are fortunate enough to get treated in the hospital often have limited interaction with their care providers and can be left alone for extended periods of time. Often, family members are unable to visit, leading to patients who are lonely and stressed. The stress caused by a lack of social contact can lead to increased inflammation, slower recovery, and longer hospital stays.[1]
Overburdened Providers & Lonely, Stressed Out Patients
So what’s the solution to the problem of overburdened healthcare providers and patients who are often isolated and stressed, ultimately leading to slower recovery and longer hospital stays?
The solution is providing patients with access to professional “health sitting” services in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Health sitters are professional companionship care providers that bridge the gap between the often-minimal social interaction that clinicians can provide and what family/friends can offer.
The Role Health Sitters Play in Patient-Centered Care
According to the Institute of Medicine, patient-centered care is defined as “Providing care that is respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient preferences, needs and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” [2]
There are various definitions of patient-centered care, but common elements include care focusing on physical comfort in addition to emotional wellbeing. The presence of family members is encouraged and facilitated.
The only problem with the current model is that oftentimes, family members are not able to be present with the patient due to time constraints, distance, or a number of other factors. That’s where health sitters can provide a great benefit of being a trusted companion when family is not able. [2]
How SitByCare Helps Patients & Providers
SitByCare provides on-demand health companionship to ensure no patient ever has to live with loneliness. Patients get matched with health sitters that fit patients’ needs and preferences, including language preferences. Pairing patients with health sitters can help patients recover faster and facilitate shorter hospital stays. This alleviates some of the burden placed on medical and care facilities. Contact SitByCare today to learn more about healthcare partnerships.
References:
“Do Hospital Visitors Impact Patient Outcomes?” Clinical Correlations, https://www.clinicalcorrelations.org/2018/08/03/do-hospital-visitors-impact-patient-outcomes/.
Catalyst, NEJM. “What Is Patient-Centered Care?” NEJM Catalyst, https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.17.0559.
Policies in long-term care facilities tend to focus on technical quality in nursing care rather than on the residents’ quality of life (QoL).1 Lack of attention paid to residents’ QoL can be intensified by understaffing and by resident-to-staff ratios.2 In some facilities, there are simply not enough healthcare workers to allow staff to devote time to addressing patients’ QoL.3
What
Contributes to QoL?
A
good QoL is more than just the absence of negative elements such as bedsores,
malnutrition, and depression.1 Among the components of a good QoL
are:1
·
having a sense of safety and security
·
being physically comfortable, including freedom from
pain
·
exposure to meaningful activity—even simply as a
spectator if health issues don’t permit active participation
· maintaining relationships, whether based on love, friendship, or even rivalry
The
Importance of Socialization
Socialization
is integral to a good QoL. Human beings have evolved to be social creatures.
Our biological, psychological, and social systems work best when we collaborate
with other people.4 Health problems such as cognitive decline,
depression, and heart disease have been related to loneliness and social
isolation.5 Some studies indicate that the negative impact of social
isolation and loneliness on patients’ health and mortality can be as strong as
the effects of high blood pressure, obesity, and smoking.4
Given
the burdens already facing staff in residential care facilities, adding
additional health challenges that result from not paying enough attention to
residents’ emotional needs can push staff to the breaking point. So what’s the
answer? One solution is to take advantage of other resources.
Peer
support from other residents can be very effective in addressing loneliness and
depression.6 One option is to create opportunities for meaningful
social engagement among the residents so they can support each other.6
For example, putting a group of residents together and encouraging them to
share happy memories is one way to accomplish this, and it doesn’t take very much
staff engagement. However, with staff already stretched in some facilities,
there may not even be time available for this. In some cases, some of the
residents may be up to the task of rallying their peers to join a chat session.
When residents can’t pitch in, perhaps their family and friends can lend a hand
when they come to visit.
Residents who don’t have visitors, or whose families and friends can’t visit very often, can still benefit from social activities if their families hire a SitByCare health sitter. It’s a win-win situation with all parties benefitting. Residents benefit from the social interaction. Facilities benefit from healthier residents who require less care. And families benefit from knowing that their relatives have a better QoL and are living healthier, happier lives.
References:
1. Long-Term Care and a Good Quality of Life:
Bringing them Closer Together. The Gerontologist. Nov. 3, 2001. Available
online at https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/41/3/293/632406.
2. The Challenging Reality
of Caring for Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities. Saskatchewan Registered
Nurses Association Bulletin. Fall 2015. https://www.uregina.ca/nursing/assets/docs/pdf/NB2015FallWebTheChallenging%20RealityOfUrban%20December%202015.pdf.
3. Long-term Care
Problems. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. May 1, 2009. Available
online at https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/long-term-care-problems.
4. Health Effects of
Social Isolation and Loneliness. Journal of Aging Life Care. Spring 2018.
Available online at https://www.aginglifecare.org/ALCA_Web_Docs/journal/ALCA%20Journal%20Spg18_FINAL.pdf#page=4.
5. Social Isolation,
Loneliness in Older People Pose Health Risks. National Institute on Aging.
April 23, 2019. Available online at https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-older-people-pose-health-risks
.
6.
How to combat Loneliness in Residential Care Settings. The Global Ageing
Network. Feb. 24, 2016. Available online at https://globalageing.org/how-to-combat-loneliness-in-residential-care-settings/.
