Nursing Older People: Realities of Practice

This practical guide helps student and practising nurses to understand the impact of their care when working with older people. With stories from older people who have had varied experiences of health care and nursing, chapters are underpinned by five key principles: providing patient-centered and dignified care, shared decision-making involving family and friends, multidisciplinary care, improving well-being through companionship and a sense of value, and an appreciation of both the challenges and rewards of working with older people.

This book offers:

• Stories which reflect the complexity of care and health experienced by older people and their journeys.
• Topic-oriented chapters which provide a series of evidence-based readings which use the most up-to-date research evidence merged with national and international policy and practitioner experience.
• Practical tips and key messages for working with older people.

The volume can be used to help nursing students and practising nurses to understand better how their care might impact positively on older people’s health and well-being. This situates the reader within the world as experienced by older people.

Heather Fillmore Elbourne is a researcher, educator, and specialist in geriatric nursing. Her skills and expertise lie in clinical nursing, interdisciplinary geriatric education, and clinical decision-making. Her doctoral research focused on the interdisciplinary care of older adults and the implementation of Person-Centred Intermediate Care in the UK. Her subsequent research has concentrated on understanding better the impact of frailty in older age and the value of interdisciplinary care when striving to best meet the needs of older adults.

Andrée le May, RN, BSc, PhD, PGCE(A), is a nurse, teacher, and researcher. Her work focuses on how nurses use knowledge in practice, and whenever possible she combines this with her clinical specialism of elderly care. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Southampton and co-editor of the Journal of Research in Nursing.