The compassion that I have towards the elderly stems from person experience with my grandparents. I am the family member sitting by their loved one that is scared and seeking information. It is important to include family, they know that individual best and may be able to give vital information that may be pertinent to the patient’s health and outcome of care. The family-centered approach delivers a connection between consumers and healthcare providers that influence the patients well-being. The principle of family-centered approach concludes that healthcare providers will share complete and unbiased information with the patient and their family members (Smith et al., 2013). Nurses should embrace family members of patients due to their importance in the caring and healing process. It is important to gain a respectful relationship with the family, because it is recognized as achieving better outcomes. Family centered care was originally implemented for children that were hospitalized with special healthcare needs, but as of 2001 programs were conducted that focused on hospitalized elders and their families. Due to the increased elderly population that are being hospitalized from acute and chronic conditions organizations are now practicing family centered care. Institutions focus on promoting an atmosphere that values collaboration with elderly individuals and their family members (Smith …show more content…
A majority of elders have a chronic condition and occupy more than half of hospital beds with longer stays than those that are younger (Smith et al., 2013). Nurses will be highly occupied caring for the older generation making it a necessity to have a better understanding and an open-mind when providing care to those of the older population. Besides health problems in older adults, they may face ageism and sexual-orientation biases. Code of ethics states that nursing care should be “respectful of and unrestricted by considerations of age, color, creed, culture, disability or illness, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, politics, race or social status” (Lim, Pace, Bailey, & Jones, 2013, p. 1). The lack of culturally competent healthcare providers contributes to ongoing health