The concepts of shelter for old beings in the form of old age homes integrated into the narrative of care for elderly people. Actually, these old age homes are established to provide shelter and support to those without homes or families. But now it has evolved to accommodate people having their own homes, families, and personal belongings.
However, this phenomenon of sending elderly people to old age homes has become a trend not only in European countries but also in Asian countries. What do you think about this? Do people believe that these shelter homes for old beings provide adequate facilities to elderly members? Are these places equipped properly to meet their unique healthcare needs?
Let’s focus on the healthcare challenges that occur in these institutes in caring for the elderly people. How effective medical translation can bridge the linguistic gap to facilitate the elderly people by providing the quality of healthcare.
Challenges
In the daily life of old age homes, elderly people look for comfort and care, and various challenges occur that make their lives more tricky. They may face various medical or non-medical issues, chronic diseases, memory issues, financial problems, loneliness, and the need for personalized care, etc.
Different Linguistic Backgrounds
The old age homes comprise not only natives. It often has residents from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds. It is a challenging part for these institutes and elderly people too. Additionally, every elderly person has specific needs and requirements for medical and non-medical issues.
Moreover, challenges may occur in communication, especially for medical purposes. So, medical translation services are used to accomplish the medical demands of these old beings.
It facilitates the accuracy of the communication of medical information and symptoms.
Staff Shortage
The elderly people in these shelter homes need care and attention all day. There is always a shortage of staff in old age homes. This is due to the irritated and uncompromised mood of old people. The staff feel problems adjusting with these people and leave this job soon. However, old age homes seriously face this challenge, there is always a need for staff in these places.
Infectious Transformation
The immunity lowers as the age progresses. There are more chances of getting infected by other people in shelter homes. Some elderly people may be suffering from serious or chronic health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and many others.
Social Isolation
Although the old age homes are full of people still the elderly people feel alone and depressed. There is always a condition of social isolation that separates them from their friends and family members.
Training of Staff
Training the staff for the care of these elderly patients is also a challenging part. The management may face serious issues due to untrained behaviors of staff in medical circumstances. Additionally, not only medical training, but social, cultural, and traditional training is also a requirement of these shelter homes.
Financial Restrictions
Many old people face financial challenges. Affording the services and facilities is challenging for management, staff, and old residents. Therefore, they have to manage their well-being and other necessities of life in a specific amount.
Limited Recreational Activities
Limitation of recreational activities leads to depression and other health issues for the old residents. However, they have feelings of loneliness and become depressed due to the same boring routine.
Tips to Tackle These challenges
There is no doubt that there are several serious challenges that these old residents of the shelter home face. However, management has the power to overcome these challenges by providing attention to some small issues. And able to solve them by following tips and tricks.
Medical Tips
- Management of medication
To manage medical issues, the management of these old age homes must take initiative by implementing a robust medication system. In this system, the patients facilitated an automated replying system. It assesses the symptoms of the patients and describes the precautionary measures and medication for specific diseases.
- Regular assessment of health
The residents must be provided with regular health assessments to identify the medical issues. A proper meeting or class must be arranged in which every elderly person must be educated with the care and treatment during emergency situations. Additionally, it is important to educate them to use medical devices such as BP apparatus and glucometer in their native language by using medical device translation services.
- Train the staff
Training the staff medically and non medically is the most important part to maintain the wellbeing of old residents and the shelter home. Staff are trained irrespective of their linguistic backgrounds in their native languages using translation services. These services help them to treat elderly people with more care and love while respecting their languages and cultural backgrounds.
- Collaboration with professional medical staff
The old age homes must collaborate with some healthcare professionals and make an agreement with them for proper check ups after specific intervals of time. And make them agree for healthcare companies to acknowledge the old residents about some essential healthcare tips.
Additionally, these shelter homes must hire a medical transcriptionist who notes the medication for the old residents in their absence on online calls or meetings. Medical transcription is written form of medical data, or drug information that is provided by the physicians or pharmacists orally.
Non-Medical:
- Recreational activities
Activities are arranged within the promises or outside to make the old beings busy. It helps to divert the attention of them towards the enjoyment and blessings of life. Additionally, they may forget about challenges for a short time. But these activities must be arranged by taking assistance from translation services so that every old resident enjoys it, eliminating the barrier of languages and cultures.
Wrapping Up!
In conclusion, the journey towards the enhancement of the healthcare system in old age homes with the help of medical transcription and translation is an essential step to ensure the well-being of the elderly residents and wellness of the shelter homes. It facilitates both medical and non-medical complexities while respecting the cultural norms of the old residents of old age homes.
