Caregiver Interview & Personal Connections

Caregiver Interview & Personal Connections

COUN5004

March 15th, 2015

Caregiver Interview & Personal Connections

        “Life, what is life?” is probably one of the most iconic questions asked by a surly and depressed robot in the film Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Adams, 2005). Of course, in the film the answer to this emotional robots question was simple, 42; if only it were so simple. The impact of this question happens at some point in everyone’s life. However, those of the elderly age tend to think of this question more frequently as they know their time is drawing more near. The emotional and physical struggles they inhabit on a day-to-day basis can be difficult for even the closest of family to deal with; therefore, questions regarding the professional caregiver’s motivation and views will be the focal point of this essay with an interview with one of these professionals. Additionally, their views and understandings will be compared to that of my own personal and cultural background as exploration into elderly care is investigated.

Part One: A Summary of the Interview

Career Position and Development

        Brecken is a 65-year-old retired registered nurse, who formally worked as Head Nurse in the geriatric behavioral division of a local hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Although Brecken has spent more than half her life in the nursing setting, this was not her first choice of a career path. In her adolescent and teenage years, Brecken often daydreamed of becoming a writer, something she is getting back into in her retirement, but these dreams would not come to pass as her family made very clear to her that writing was not what ladies did, and that she needed to pick a more worthy career after high school. Although, nursing never crossed her mind growing up, the opportunity still presented itself when her mother’s long-time friend became head nurse at a now closed mental health facility for seniors. She was surprised how much she actually enjoyed the position and was able to enter into the hospitals nursing program. The more responsibility she was granted the more she enjoyed the work. Although she started out with elderly care she was not always in this category; she dabbled in many of the different divisions for nursing, and worked as several different hospitals in her lifetime. However, with all of her experience, she felt the strongest connection in geriatrics and chose to spend the last 15 years of her career dedicating her time and energy to the elderly. As she reflects back, she has no regret for not following her initial passion, as she felt it was better taking the path she chose and created a very comfortable career.

        Although in the beginning, her family and their ideals regarding women’s career objectives were at odds with Brecken’s own desires, in the end, the work she has done grew into an overwhelming passion. Fortunately, the field of nursing offered many different career options for her, allowing her the ability to try out new divisions, types of care, and locations she wanted to live. It is due to this fact Donald Super’s Developmental Self-Concept Theory (DSCT) is highly applicable to Brecken’s vocational evolution; DSCT is the process of growing and executing a self-concept (an awareness of ones-self based on beliefs and responses of others) (Betz, 1994). This theory describes the process as a careful balance and implementation of the individual’s self-concept while mixing the various roles, personal aptitudes, and opportunities to a vocational field (Betz, 1994). Brecken had stated, if it were not for the diversity her career offered her, she did not think she would have stayed in this field. Being able to tackle new obstacles in her life and solidify to those she was most drawn to enabled her to implement aspects of her own personality into her work and kept the monotony that most careers often turn to at bay.

Long-Term Care and End-of-Life Issues

        Even now, having been retired for close to 8 years, Brecken still volunteers much of her free time at the hospital where she previously worked. In her former position, she specifically worked with patients in their elder years, many of whom were at the final stages of life. Although she did not work in a long-term care facility, she would frequently have patients for many weeks to occasionally months. Generally, Brecken dealt with intermediate temporary care and end-of-life care. She felt along with her standard nursing requirements she needed to create a relationship with this demographic in patients and that feeling only grew as she increased in age as well. Many patients had no family or friends and knew her presence to be a positive experience. Additionally, she had an unknowable figure for how many times she was involved in families saying their good-byes and having to be the shoulder for them to cry on. In essences, as she reflected on her career, these were the moment that she dreaded the most, but also embraced her duty as head nurse with compassion and friendship.

Considerations of Patient

        Culture played a much larger role in Brecken’s career in the ladder stages of her career; with the shift in hospital and governmental policy enforcing a more culturally open environment in the mid-90’s up until her retirement. Since the majority of her career had been spent working with the older demographic she had endure many differences in how later stages of life affected families of the patient or the patient themselves. For example, she distinctively remembered her first time dealing with a family whose belief system (Mahayanist Buddhism) was different and was shocked at how the family understood and accepted death. Buddhism, although they do mourn death, often embrace the death of a loved one as it means they get a second chance for re-birth; the belief understands and accepts the death of the body, but celebrate the spirit going into the infinite for reincarnation (Pentaris, 2011). Brecken, although catholic was astounded and humbled by her experience with this family, and hopes that as her death was inevitable, that her loved ones could be just as accepting. To that same point family participation with her older patients always varied; some were overtly involved and some were non-existence. She was always surprised that often there was never a mix, it was either all in or no one was there for the patient. Sex was always a determining factor to how she addressed her patients, and with that, age often coincided with her behavior. Older gentlemen were often sourly independent, especially those who had grown up during the depression era. She found that she was best to help only when absolutely needed with them, but also to keep a very close eye as they had a tendency to be quite sneaky (i.e. tiptoeing outside to smoke while on oxygen). However, her older females were typically more pleasant and happy for the assistance she provided. After a few difficult run-ins in her youth with being too helpful, she had learned to be observant of their mannerism and behavior, to which she was able to better classify how to handle herself in their presence as the years and her added experience went on. She mentioned her favorite patients were the older males, as they offered her quite a challenge and once they got to like her, they often would have the most fascinating stories or a good old-fashion quick wit.