Transcript Slide 1

Judith Knam
Project report
STS390, “Media, war and peace”
Spring session, 2008
Science, Technology & Society
University of Wollongong
The report has two parts.
1. A response pack for an actual organisation.
Judith Knam’s response pack starts on the next slide.
2. A dialogue between two students discussing the project. This
dialogue is fictional. Pseudonyms were used so that the marker,
Brian Martin, would not know the identity of student authors.
Judith Knam’s dialogue is in a separate file.
Judith has rewritten both parts of her report to disguise the identity
of the organisation.
Response pack for
the religious Healthcare centre
Violence in Healthcare
The Religious Healthcare Centre
Overview
This response pack is designed to assist
The religious healthcare centre in handling any queries
about honesty in conduct
and responsible care for their patients
Overview
Overview
Older people in our Society
The Concept of Violence
Sun Healthcare Case Study
‘How we differ’
Recommendations
Older people in our Society
Overview
Australians now have the world’s second longest life expectancy at
81.4 yrs
by 2050, most Australians can expect to reach
the mid-to-late 80s
Within the Australian society it becomes
increasingly the norm to refer aging
family members to nursing homes,
as the western lifestyle focuses on the
individual over the collective
Population split
13.3
18.8
67.9
0-14 years
15 -64 years
65 years+
Older people in our Society
Overview
Neglect, exploitation and sexual, physical and
psychological abuse are commonplace in Australian
nursing homes until today
Aged care centres are accused of indifference towards the
elderly and Nursing home abuse
Overview
Wolfensberger on Deathmaking
Older people are subjected to conditions and abuses,
which make healthy, elderly people sick and feeble,
and sick and feeble elderly people dead
Overview
Wolfensburger, 1990, p.198
“The medical profession is abandoning its radical commitment to life,
and is massively participating in death-making”
Older people are severely victimized in a number of ways (having
their income and property taken away, being neglected and
verbally abused or being physically assaulted).
There are many well-meaning, competent, and dedicated health
workers, but the bankruptcy of the overall system just defeats their
efforts, and often blinds them to overarching truths
Ageism by Robert Butler
Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice against individuals
or groups because of their age
Butler, 1975, p.29
Overview
Older people have repeatedly expressed their wish to be addressed in
respectful terms (older or senior) and have rejected the term "elderly”.
Why?
Because the use of "elderly" as a descriptor is that it may be seen to
confuse the concepts of frailty (which is potentially reversible) and
aging (which is not).
The use of language influences unconscious worldviews that lead to a
dramatic change in societal values, to social devaluation and to
‘logical’ conclusions
Violence
is the exertion of force so as to injure or abuse
Overview
Johan Galtung on Structural Violence
denotes a form of violence which corresponds with the systematic
ways in which a given social structure or institution kills people slowly
by preventing them from meeting their basic needs
Structural violence and direct violence are highly interdependent
Life spans are reduced when people are socially dominated, politically
oppressed, or economically exploited
Structural violence is visited upon all those whose social status denies them
access to the fruits of scientific and social progress Senior’s sickness is a
result of structural violence
Violence
Abuse and Neglect types of violence occurring in nursing homes
Overview
Psychological abuse = infliction of mental anguish. It includes verbal
intimidation and humiliation, scolding, treating older persons as children,
and withholding affection
Physical abuse = is the nonaccidental use of physical force or coercion
to inflict bodily harm. It includes assault, restricting freedom of movement,
and sexual abuse
Neglect = consists of the deprivation by a carer of basic necessities, such
as food, liquids, or medication, or services, especially services that are
necessary for maintaining physical or mental health.
Causes of violence
Overview
Violence is often a response to a highly stressed working situation  staff who
are 'burned-out‘ and who experience aggression from patients are at risk
of engaging in abusive behaviour
Nursing homes have become a business concerned with profits – hence a
concern with cutting costs outweighs a focus on human rights and common
welfare of older people
Case study
Sun Healthcare
Overview
In the 90s Sun Healthcare was a conglomerate owning an excess of 400
facilities worldwide, which created US$ 1.32 billion annually in revenues.
Sun was the holding company for several subsidiaries including
•Sunrise (nursing homes),
•Sundance (rehabilitation),
•Sun International (international long term care),
•Sunchoice (medical supplies)
•and Sun Alliance (nursing home services such as laboratories, radiology,
podiatry, dental and hospice).
It operated under ruthless profit-driven CEO Turner, whose strategy was
“growth and expansion“
Case study
Sun Healthcare
Overview
Senate hearings in the US revealed widespread fraud and the misuse of
Medicare
and Medicaid funding; moreover sun compared poorly with competitors in
terms of
residents health and well being
 20% of Sun's homes were among the "worst homes"
By 1999 Sun declared bankruptcy because of the consequences of Sun's
staffing
policies in its homes were been exposed: For years Sun had been deliberately
understaffing in nursing homes, which lead to vast numbers of frail seniors to
suffer
and thousands to die prematurely as a result
The religious healthcare centre
How we differ
Overview
The religious healthcare centre is a non-for-profit organization, hence cost
are not a driving factor in our operations
Staff are dedicated to providing quality care in an atmosphere of homeliness
and dignity, with personal regard for each individual, as the religious healthcare
centre accommodates 55 patients at the most
Staff strive to enhance the quality of life for the sick and the aged, alleviate
suffering and provide care in an environment which is distinctly Christian.
religious healthcare centre respects and empowers the elderly and is opposed
to euthanasia and ‘death-making’
How should the religious healthcare centre
approach this topic with the public?
Overview
Despite being a non-for-profit organization, It is still important
to publicly show awareness of the issue and to have
processes in place that internally monitor and maintain the
highest standards for patients!
 Employees and staff need to be aware of what constitutes
violence and their ethical and moral responsibilities towards
their patients.
Recommendations
for the religious healthcare centre’s staff
Overview
Actively promote the Australian
Government’s “Aged Complaints
investigation scheme”, of which free
brochures are available at reception
Recommendations
for the religious healthcare centre’s staff
Overview
The following checklist is from the
Arkansas Adult Protective services,
and serves as a checklist for staff in
the Aged care industry to assess
themselves. The purpose is for staff
to be proactive and conscious of their
level of stress; hence preventing violent
encounters with patients
The religious healthcare centre
on Aged Care
Overview
Hopefully, this response pack provided coherent
information on Healthcare patrons and violence
and will assist the religious healthcare centre’s staff
in handling queries on precautions to preventing
violence within the organization so that the
religious healthcare centre can continue to be a
responsible, ethical and socially sustainable Aged
Care home.
References
Overview
Butler, R. N. (1975) Why Survive? Being Old in America, Harper & Row, Seattle
Galtung, J. (1969) "Violence, Peace, and Peace Research," Journal of Peace Research,
Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 167-191
Gartrell, A. (2006) “Recent events highlight shameful neglect of Australia's elderly”,
Australian Associated Press Pty Limited, Feb 24, 2006 Sydney
Goode, D. (1994) ‘Quality of life for persons with disabilities: international perspectives and issues’,
Brookline Books, Cambridge, 285 – 321
McCallum, J., Matiasz, S. & Graycar A. (1990) “Abuse of the Elderly at Home: The Range of the Problem
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Canberra, p.10
Mclean, M. (2007) “Assisted-living option often explored at families' urging”, Journal of business, Vol. 22,
Iss. 21
References continued
Overview
Books
Pinkerton James, M. (1992) “The Elderly as Victims of Crime, Abuse and Neglect”,
Australian Institute of Criminology, No. 27, Iss.1, p.1 -7
Quinlan, N. (2008) “OLDER" OR "ELDERLY"—ARE MEDICAL JOURNALS SENSITIVE TO THE WISHES OF
OLDER PEOPLE?”, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol.56, Iss. 10
Whytehead, L, Chidwick, P.F. (1977) Considerations concerning the transit from Life to Death,
Winnipeg, Canada
Wolfensberger, W., Race, D. (2003) Leadership and Change in Human Services: Selected Readings
from Wolf Wolfensberger, Routledge, New York
References continued
Overview
Online
http://www.corporatenarc.com/nursing-home-scandal.php
http://www.aradultprotection.com/Dementia_files/ElderAbuse.gif
www.aradultprotection.com/Dementia_files/ElderAbuse.gif
nursing-home-abuse-lawyers.us/images/
http://www.sunrisehcc.com
http://www.catholichealthcare.com.au/Stella_Maris_Aged_Care.htm
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/mr-yr08-jeje190.htm
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html
www.catholichealthcare.com.au
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/mr-yr08-jeje190.htm
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html