Online Class: Advocacy for Elderly Patients

Understanding basic rights of patients and how such rights apply to the elderly will help you become an advocate for not only elderly patients, but for other family members and friends. 

In this course, you'll learn not only how to be a well educated advocate, but to do your part to preserve the dignity of seniors, prevent elder abuse, and understand the basics of elderly patient care at home, in assisted living facilities, and in nursing homes or other care scenarios. You'll learn the importance of nutrition and providing senior friendly living spaces. You'll learn how to effectively evaluate nursing homes and understand the legal rights of seniors and how to protect them from scams.

As an educated advocate, you'll also learn how to identify and report red flags when it comes to senior care, including elderly abuse and more personal aspects of care, including hygiene. You'll also learn the importance of documents such as advance directives and powers of attorney in order to provide the best in secure, comforting, and effective senior care that maintains their independence and dignity in all areas of their life.

Improving quality of life is just one of the benefits of being an advocate for the elderly.

What Is an Advocate?

At its most basic definition, an advocate is someone who sticks up for someone else. In the medical field, a patient advocate is one who makes sure that the legal and human rights of a patient are understood and upheld. Taking that a step further, a senior advocate is one who makes sure that the needs of seniors are being met in all aspects of their environment.

A patient advocate is often employed by hospitals or nursing homes to act as a bridge for communication between patients, families, and administration. Advocates are not only available for patients, but for their family and their legal representatives.

Basically, an advocate acts as a liaison between hospital staff, hospital systems, and patients and their families. Advocates help provide access to information and address concerns and communications of loved ones regarding senior care. Patient advocates may also be involved in:

• Billing issues.

• Patient rights.

• Physician issues.

• Issues related to treatment.

• Scheduling issues.

• Resolving difficulties, either of the patient or family members.

In caregiving facilities, a patient advocate may help you resolve difficulties, complaints, or other that you may have about your loved one's care or about services provided by the facility.

What Does an Advocate Do?   

A senior advocate makes sure that the dignity of seniors is preserved and the quality of life issues such as physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and wellness are being addressed in their daily environment. An advocate for seniors will make sure that they have access to adequate nutrition as well as having social interaction and community activities and events.

The focus of an advocate is to provide support, assistance, and encouragement for both the senior and their family. Patient advocates are also available to help preserve the rights of patients who have no family or are unable or hesitant to speak up for themselves.

The patient advocate is always willing to discuss information regarding a hospital or a facility's procedures and policies as well as explaining their rights to patients. Advocates listen to complaints or concerns from the patient and strive to resolve them with staff and administration and to facilitate the best in quality patient-centered care.

Being an Educated Caregiver or Patient Advocate

While patient advocates are often highly trained and experienced professionals in the medical and health field, you may also be an advocate for the elderly patient. After all, you know when something doesn't feel right. If you're concerned about the care Mom or Grandma is receiving at a nursing home, it's your responsibility to mention it. In doing so, you've just become an advocate for the elderly patient as well as other patients within the facility.

Empowering patients, as well as their loved ones, to help take responsibility over their medical care and increase and enhance partnerships with doctors, nurses, and other medical staff will help ensure the best in quality care for seniors. In order to become an educated caregiver, you need to become a knowledgeable and educated consumer.

This doesn't mean that you have to spend hours in school or receive a social sciences degree, but that you need to be aware of basic medical care principles. For example:

• Do you think Mom is rushed through her doctor's appointments?

• Are you concerned that Dad has too many prescriptions?

• Have you noticed that Grandma's skin rash hasn't improved in weeks?

• Are you worried that Dad's doctor has made a mistake in his care?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are already behaving like an advocate for your loved one. An advocate is:

• Caring and compassionate.

• Able to communicate.

• Organized.

• Able to solve a variety of problems.

• Able to get along well with a variety of individuals, including patients, other family members, medical staff, and support personnel.

The patient advocate may also help seniors and their family members navigate healthcare insurance problems and patient services. The professional patient advocate may also get involved in mediation, arbitration, and negotiation on behalf of patients when it comes to a financial crisis, maintaining and keeping their jobs, or facilitating access of care in a variety of scenarios.

As an elderly patient advocate, you also need to understand rules and regulations in regard to patient care, know when to speak up and make your voice heard. Throughout this course, we will offer a variety of resources and standards of care that are expected in home-based care, assisted living facilities, and nursing home  scenarios in regard to caring for the elderly.