Falk Nancy L, Baigis Judith, Kopac Catharine
The George Washington University School of Nursing in Washington, DC, USA.
Online J Issues Nurs. 2012 Sep;17(3):7.
Elder mistreatment is unrecognized, hidden, and underreported. Studies show that health professionals, nurses among them, are largely unaware of the various forms of elder mistreatment that take place and of the proper course of action to pursue when mistreatment is suspected. In this article, we describe elder mistreatment policies, examining them in the light of the United States national elder abuse policies with a focus on important provisions of the Elder Justice Act. Next, we review the various types of abuse, the identification of abuse, and the nurses role in addressing elder mistreatment. We present an example of a case of physical abuse and conclude by discussing nurses' advocacy role and issuing a call to action, challenging nurses to ‘"act now" to protect the well being of elders.
虐待老年人的现象未得到认知、隐匿且报告不足。研究表明，包括护士在内的医疗专业人员很大程度上并未意识到发生的各种虐待老年人的形式，以及在怀疑存在虐待行为时应采取的正确行动方针。在本文中，我们描述了虐待老年人的政策，参照美国国家老年人虐待政策对其进行审视，重点关注《老年人司法法案》的重要条款。接下来，我们回顾各种虐待类型、虐待行为的识别以及护士在应对虐待老年人问题中的作用。我们呈现一个身体虐待案例，并通过讨论护士的宣传作用并发出行动呼吁来得出结论，促使护士“立即行动”以保护老年人的福祉。
