Unlike the younger patients, the care for older adults is extremely challenging. The conditions for elderly persons is augmented by various well-established characteristics such as extreme frailties and chronic diseases, less financial and social resources, and greater expenditures. Apart from this, aging is also associated with functional loss. In this essence, the care for elderly patients should be structured specially to cater to their needs. One of the most appropriate nursing care approaches for elderly patients is that of the ACE (Acute Care of the Elderly) model. The primary objective of this model is to ensure the vulnerable patients receive specialist care in the health care unit within the shortest possible time before leaving the hospital with high functionality levels, dignity, and independence ( Sanon et al., 2019). Given the nature and applicability of this model, it is deemed necessary to assess the underlying risks and benefits, measurement of effectiveness, analysis of the underlying risks to the elderly population, as well as the challenges facing the care providers.
Risks and Benefits of this Model
The ACE model is associated with various health care benefits. Being a patient-centered framework, it emphasizes the need for independence, medical care review, and early discharge planning. Besides, this model emphasizes the adoption of patient-centered care and nurse-driven prevention protocols that address common geriatric syndromes ( Sanon et al., 2019). All these affirm the extent to which the ACE care model is extremely beneficial to elderly patients.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Regardless of the underlying benefits, this model can be inhibited by numerous risks. The notable risks are accrued when the nursing practitioners in the ACE unit fail in their mandate to enhance the provision of a safe and convenient environment ( Sanon et al., 2019). For instance, they might fail to rapidly identify their patients for entry, to rapidly investigate and intervene for individuals with acute illness, to develop a comprehensive care plan with significant interventions from an interdisciplinary team, inadequate medication review, and poor interdisciplinary geriatric assessment.
Measurement of Effectiveness
The effectiveness of this model is measured in various ways. First, it can be assessed based on the reduction of patient re-admission rates due to proper intervention and follow-up or discharge frameworks. On the other hand, the effectiveness of this model is based on the patients’ ability to recover their functional loss through appropriate physical and medical interventions ( Arendts, 2017). Lastly, the effectiveness is based on the ability to align the flow of care actions through permanent monitoring of the patients’ health and ensuring they are kept under constant observation.
The Risks to the Elderly Population Utilizing this Care Delivery Model
Despite the numerous benefits associated with this care model, the elderly population is still predisposed to post-discharge risks such as falls and other functional issues due to poor follow-up frameworks ( Arendts, 2017). Besides, inadequate financial and social resources also pose greater risks to the patients utilizing this model. Most importantly, the underlying nursing care services fragments characterized by multiple specialist consultations, poor information sharing, as well as numerous tests, drugs, and other procedures tend to overload the ACE system, hence decreasing the quality of care for the elderly.
Challenges Facing the Care Providers
The nursing care providers utilizing this model face a significant challenge associated with an exclusive focus on the underlying diseases. Regardless of offering a logical program, the proposals are primarily geared towards disease reduction ( Arendts, 2017). Thus, the challenge emanates on the extent to which the primary objective for most care providers is to establish the cure for the chronic disease rather than focusing on stabilization of the nursing profile and enhancing constant assessment to ameliorate or prevent functional decline.
References
Arendts, G. (2017). How comprehensive is comprehensive enough? Emergency Department assessment of older people. Age and Ageing , 46(3), 340-341. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afw258
Sanon, M., Hwang, U., Abraham, G., Goldhirsch, S., & Richardson, L. D. (2019). ACE model for older adults in ED. Geriatrics , 4 (1), 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics4010024
