A stay in hospital: It’s effects on patients

Question 1

Health hazards of hospitalisation

Answer 1

• Health Care Associated Infections (Hospital Acquired Infections) – can be reduced by the adherence to hospital infection control guidelines
• Bed rest

Question 2

• Bed rest

Answer 2

– deterioration in fitness, loss of muscle strength – particular problem in the elderly

Question 3

The hospital environment

Answer 3

• privacy is often limited
• wards can be stressful places to stay
• staff wear uniforms
• a patient may interact with up to 30 members of staff in a day
• many objects in the environment are unfamiliar

Question 4

The experience of being a patient

Answer 4

Loss of control

behavioural control cognitive control decision control informational control

Question 5

Depersonalisation

Answer 5

your patient is treated as though he or she were either not present or not a person
•“The stomach ulcer in bed nine”

Question 6

why is depersonalisation a good thing

Answer 6

• depersonalisation and distancing may help practitioners deal with patients deteriorating or dying
• overworked, stressed and tired doctors may lead to less personalised care (burnout)

Question 7

Institutionalisation

Answer 7

• in normal life people adopt a variety of roles each day

* in hospital the variety of roles they can adopt is reduced

Question 8

summery

Answer 8

• hospitals are unfamiliar environments to in-patients
• people may enter into the role of being a patient
• patients complain about losing control when they are hospitalised, improving this can aid recovery
• hospital staff often depersonalise patients and this can reduce patient satisfaction in their care
• institutionalisation may occur if a patient is in hospital for a long period of time

Question 9

The hospitalised child

Answer 9

Separation anxiety or distress Stages of separation
•protest
•despair
•detachment

Question 10

Misconceptions and faulty illness representation

Answer 10

• misconception:
• illness as punishment for being “bad”
• faulty illness representation: •a haemophilia bug

Question 11

Impacts of hospitalisation on a child’s behaviour:

Answer 11

•may regresses sharply •nightmares
•irritable
may not occur until they have returned home

Question 12

How can we improve the experience of hospital for children?

Answer 12

• day surgery or outpatient treatment when feasible •preparation for hospitalisation
• unrestricted parental visits
• nursing staff supporting and educating parents to care for their child in hospital
• reduce the number of nursing staff dealing with a particular child
• communicate with the child as well as the parents

Question 13

•Describe the effects of hospitalisation on adults

Answer 13

• unfamiliar environment
• entering the role of a patient
• loss of control
• depersonalisation •institutionalisation

Question 14

•Issues relating to children as in-patients

Answer 14

• separation distress
• illness misconceptions
• faulty representation