Taking care of elder people is an obligation and this topic has been brought up and discussed many times in the news, blogs, books, radio shows, etc, but they often bring it up not for the sake of bringing it, but for other reasons. Sadly there are many stories about the abuse that happens in some nursing homes. However, those bad places should not be used as an example to have a general image of nursing homes because there are many nursing homes with staff that takes the job seriously and cares for the residents. These nursing homes often offer psychological therapy, pet therapy, music therapy, activities, and many more things.
Some of the residents might have dementia and they can most likely develop depression and or anxiety because of the confusion they live in after being moved out from their native house. This is one of many cases that the staff in nursing homes should deal with, that is why they are always trying to find new methods or develop their own methods to deal with the residents and improve their life quality. One nursing home stood out for applying a new policy. Old Vicarage Care Home staff went through training with Dementia Care Matters and applied the no uniform policy in the facility. This means that the staff wears regular everyday clothing during the day shifts and pajamas during night shifts.
Improving Quality Of Life
The psychological state of individuals plays a major role when it comes to having a good life especially for those who have dementia. The Old Vicarage staff took that idea, developed it, and ended up with a new policy that played a huge role when it comes to improving the residents’ life quality. This new policy is made to play games with the elders’ minds because with the staff wearing regular clothes during day shifts, the residents do not feel like they’re staying in a nursing home, as for pajamas, they actually remind the residents that it’s bedtime.
Going Uniform-Free
As mentioned before, when the staff wears regular clothes, the residents do not feel like if they were staying in a nursing home and they will no longer distinguish fellow residents with care providers (this method helped people with dementia more than the other residents). This new policy is great because it can form a new bond between residents and care providers and makes them feel like if they were home; That’s what most of the aging facilities try to achieve. A study conducted in France found that there was an improvement in the residents’ quality of life after the adoption of the no uniform policy.
Improving Emotional Health
If patients progress through dementia, life is going to be hard for them and for the staff taking care of them because navigating relationships becomes very hard. The only thing that the staff can do at this point is to offer emotional support, love, and affection because the patients have been away from friends, family, and lovers for a long time and they probably feel lonely after moving into a nursing home. That is why when the staff wears normal or street clothes, dementia patients can actually look at them as friends or potentially family members and that can ease their loneliness and encourage them to be more social.
Sometimes small things can have the biggest impact. Who said that wearing normal clothes in nursing homes can improve the residents’ life quality? Visuals have an incredible impact on the subconscious, that is why it is crucial for care providers to know this if they want to offer the best possible care for the residents.
