Practicing as a geriatric nurse is challenging because patients often get anxious quickly and sometimes are unforgiving and unresponsive. Moreover, you monitor previous health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and arthritis while focusing on providing preventive care. You may also have to care for patients with mental health challenges or those permanently bedridden.
Due to declining health, aging patients move into nursing facilities and old homes, which can plunge them into severe depression. Decreased motility after falling or suffering a stroke can also affect senior adults’ mental health, and they may refuse to engage in any activities. As a geriatric nurse, your aim should be to inspire your patients to participate in fun activities that boost their moods and make them feel exuberant about life.
Hence, geriatric medicine demands empathetic nurses to stay steady and calm around aging patients and engage them in activities that will improve their mental well-being and heighten their confidence. Being able to do so is a unique skill because chronic illnesses, excruciating pain, and declining mental faculties among seniors can dampen their morale and drop them into hopelessness and distress.
Importance of Trained Geriatric Nurses
Nurses constantly remain in contact with their patients. Thus, they must have the essential skill and expertise to provide old-age patients with the best care and promote positive mental health. The master of nursing degrees online are a favorable choice for nurses dedicated to serving or assisting senior adults. The program provides comprehensive analyses and evidence-based training sessions that working nurses can easily access from home or work. Through this online program, they can conveniently develop a detailed understanding of geriatric care and broaden the scope of their nursing career. They can acquire advanced skills to assess, diagnose, and manage elderly patients combating mental health problems.
With that said, let us explore the ways nurses can promote positive mental health in senior adults:
Mind Games
The brain requires frequent stimulation and exercise just as the body requires physical exertion to stay fit. According to Harvard Health Publishing, mind games can prevent cognitive decline in elderly patients by improving memory, planning skills, processing capability, decision-making, and reaction time.
You can also introduce your patient to puzzles and board games. It will be an excellent opportunity to test their mental faculties while helping them bond with other players. Fixing puzzles and playing board games hinders memory decline and enhances mental health.
Encourage Reading and Writing
As a geriatric nurse, encourage your patients to read and write because doing so boosts memory, decreases stress, and induces better sleep. Daily journaling also provides an outlet for stress and anxiety.
Encourage Playing Musical Instruments
You can also encourage your patients to learn how to play a musical instrument. Music has a stimulating effect on the brain and also boosts memory in elderly patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Playing or learning to play a musical instrument is exciting and improves fluency of speech and processing ability in a few months.
Encourage seniors to Indulge in Physical Activities
All forms of physical activities are beneficial for people of all ages. Seniors must engage in low-impact exercises like stretching and strength training to reduce the risk of common age-related issues like weak bones leading to fractures and joint pain and maintain overall health. Depending on their level of mobility, as a geriatric nurse, you can also encourage your senior patients to take up some other physical activity like going on a walk, attending yoga classes, or dancing classes. Doing so will positively affect their body and mind.
Stay Connected
The passage of time and distance makes it hard for people to maintain relations, especially as they grow older. For seniors, staying in frequent contact with loved ones helps prevent loneliness and feelings of isolation that can trigger depression, which in turn, causes mental and physical decline. As a nurse, you should encourage family members to stay in close contact with your patient. You can remind your patient of weekly calls and even help set up a Zoom meeting for them.
Some ways to stay in touch involve learning how to FaceTime, Zoom, or Skype. Plenty of tutorials are available online, and you can also teach your older patients how to operate these applications. Seniors can also simplify things by writing letters, and you can help them post those letters.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is a perfect opportunity to awaken your creative side and distract yourself with something productive when you feel mellow. As a geriatric nurse, you should highlight the advantages of doing art therapy. People with dementia often have low self-confidence and self-esteem because they have to rely on others, even for simple tasks. You can inspire your patient to feel more confident and self-reliant by encouraging them to participate in creative activities like scrapbooking, which is a good way to distract them while improving mental agility. Art therapy also decreases blood pressure and augments memory. Such projects help keep the patient active and alert during the day, thereby promising better sleep at night, which leads to a healthy routine.
Volunteer in Charity Events
Volunteering in charity programs is a great way to positively impact one’s mental well-being because it gives a sense of purpose to them. It provides an opportunity to interact with people online or in person, and serving those less fortunate delivers a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Even if the patient in your care has restricted mobility or is on bed rest, you can talk to them about doing charity through online platforms and finding a way to help the community.
You can also ask family members to visit shelters, hospitals, local charities, and religious organizations to see if they have any reasonable projects your patient can participate in. It may include making care packages, stitching hats, collecting litter, knitting blankets, or conducting weekly educational classes for poor children at an orphanage or a local shelter.
Every person has varying likes and preferences. What appeals to one senior might not be relevant or exciting for another. Hence a crucial part of deciding suitable activities for seniors is to refigure out what matters to them. As a caregiver or a hired nurse, patiently engage in conversation with your patient to deduce what they enjoy the most so you can help them improve their mental well-being.