The importance of knowing first aid when it comes to dealing with senior citizens is especially highlighted in the fact that hiring first aid trainers for caregivers can greatly benefit nursing home owners and supervisors. This is because first aid training can prevent death in nursing homes and other healthcare facilities that specialize in elderly care. Here are some of the ways that these types of medical training can prevent death in healthcare facilities for senior citizens.
Patients will not be able to wander off
In a news report that was published in December 2013, a 76-year old nursing home patient who was suffering from dementia reportedly escaped from a nursing home in British Columbia. She was reportedly missing for more than a week before she was found dead in an area just a few kilometers from her nursing home. She was not wearing a band which was supposed to track her every move and would alert the staff if she were to leave the premises. Knowing first aid would teach trainees to give more attention to patients who are likely to wander off such as those who are suffering from dementia and other medical conditions which can impair one’s sense of reality.
Injuries will be prevented
Senior citizens who have an impaired sense of reality or are suffering from other psychological disorders can pose harm both to themselves and other patients. In a news report that was released in August 2013, it featured the story of a 95-year old senior citizen who as living in a nursing home who also killed his 85-year old roommate. In another study that published in the same month, a nursing home patient who was 75 years old died due to the injuries that he sustained from an attack of a fellow patient. Through first aid training, caregivers will learn how to properly restrain patients who can hurt other patients as well as themselves without causing harm. They will also learn how to treat wounds and other injuries right after an incident which can prevent death.
Suicides will be avoided
Suicide threats in nursing homes are common especially for those who are suffering from depression or patients who do not get a lot of visitors. However, actual deaths due from suicides can be avoided by paying for first aid trainers since conducting suicide watch in the right way and applying the right medical interventions to individuals who have tried to kill themselves through poisoning and other means are taught in first aid classes.
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