Ruth Fingold: An Older Adult with Mental Retardation in a Long Term Care Setting

Price (includes one year of access and CE):  US$10 Course Code: 7SENNF-PRV-09-ddn13s19 CE: 1.00 Hours. Post Test Score Required for Successful Completion: 80%

Course Overview:

This case scenario presents an older woman with cognitive limitations who lives alone in a supervised apartment. After a fall, she is hospitalized for a fracture and needs rehabilitation in a long-term care facility (LTCF) until she becomes able to care for herself independently again. After comparing and contrasting how psychosocial factors affect older adults both with and without developmental disabilities, the case scenario explores issues related to informed consent and competence. The importance of including the woman's community caregivers and social support network in the long-term care decision-making process is highlighted. The case scenario discusses federal and state requirements for screening people with developmental disabilities before admission to an LTCF to determine whether LTCF placement is appropriate, including PASAAR (Pre-Admission Screen and Annual Resident Review) and collection of a Minimum Data Set (MDS) to be used in developing a Resident Assessment Profile (RAP) for care planning. During the woman's stay in the LTCF, her community-based nurse and caregivers collaborate with the nursing staff at the LTCF to resolve problems and to develop a discharge plan that assures adequate community support.

Course Objectives:

After completion of this learning activity, the learner will be able to:

• describe the partnership triad among the client, nurse, and caregiver, including formal and informal networks.
• analyze the impact of context in decision making related to older adults with developmental disabilities.
• modify nursing interventions in an LTCF to reflect the person's cognitive abilities and the diversity of his or her networks.
• compare and contrast psychosocial issues of older people with and without developmental disabilities.
• compare and contrast regulatory accommodations that need to be made when persons with and without developmental disabilities are admitted to an LTCF.
• compare and contrast mandated assessments that need to be completed for persons with and without developmental disabilities in LTCFs/nursing homes.
• describe the nurse's role in advocacy, education, and facilitation in the management of care for a person with developmental disabilities in an LTCF.

This courseware was made possible in part by grant number R43 NR04738-03 from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Copyright© 2007 by HealthSoft, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

HealthSoft, Inc. is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the New York State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

It has been assigned code 7SENNF-PRV-09.

This course is updated annually. Expiration date: 5/1/11

The faculty and planners of this course have no vested interests to disclose.

This course has received no commercial support.