Patients with learning disabilities need help and attention from a nurse as they have difficulty performing simple daily activities. While working with such a patient, it is necessary to maintain a careful balance between support and the patient’s autonomy. The Roper Logan & Tierney Model of Nursing aims to encourage patient independence and freedom properly, so it is excellent for caring for a patient with a learning disability.
This nursing care model is designed to consider the natural desire of a person to be independent, despite the presence of any disease. Having become a hospital clients, people do not take the position of victims or disabled ones (Harding & Hagler, 2021). Hence, the critical points of this model are the mandatory determination of the degree of the patient’s current disability and his ability to carry out everyday activities. In addition, the nurse must assess a particular patient’s condition and consider the influence of biological, environmental, psychological, sociocultural, and economic factors on one’s ability to be independent. In other words, treatment process should be as much as possible individualized (McCormack & McCance, 2017). The complete independence of the patient is a criterion for improvement in this approach, and the nurse’s task is to provide holistic, complex care to the patient up to this point.
The Roper Logan & Tierney model is relevant to modern nursing care standards, as it is one of the approaches to person-centered care. The main object of this approach is not the disease but the person suffering from it. Such an approach presupposes a shift from person-object relations to a person-person type (Price, 2022). The focus on the patient as a person, rather than on the object of application of medical manipulations, allows respectful care for one’s needs. The main goal of the Nursing Associate as the organizer of such care will be constant communication with the patient, creating a comfortable environment and adequate psychological support.
Patients with learning disabilities often have limited independence, which correlates with the severity of learning deficits. In this situation, a person-oriented approach to determine the individual level of autonomy of the patient will contribute to more targeted care by the nurse. All aspects of hospital clients’ perception of the diagnosis and treatment process are to be taken into account (Peate, 2019). This will help the patient feel more freedom and eliminate harmful patterns of behavior on the part of the nurse. The main mistakes that can provoke psychological state’s degradation are excessive paternalism and violation of person boundaries (Newton, 1991). A personalized approach within the Roper Logan & Tierney model will help avoid misunderstandings between the nurse and the patient and avoid cases of stigmatization of patients with mental health issues. This is especially important in hospital treatment, as personal qualities of a nurse affect the state of people with cognitive disabilities (Harris, 2021). Patients should not experience frustration and anxiety caused by mental peculiarities (Holland & Jenkins, 2019). The nurse’s desire to adequately meet a particular patient’s needs will help create a more comfortable and safe treatment environment and personalized care and create conditions for improving the moral and physical condition.
In summary, the Roper Logan & Tierney Model of Nursing is one of the best models for caring for patients with learning disabilities. It allows for personalized care for patients with mental health needs based on their level of independence and encourages independent activity within current health restrictions. In addition, the holistic approach to health underlying this model considers all the most important factors influencing the recovery process, allowing Nursing Associate to make actual adjustments as the patient’s condition improves.
References
Harding, M. M., & Hagler, D. (2021). Conceptual Nursing Care Planning. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Harris, M. (2021). Understanding person-centred care for Nursing Associates. Learning Matters.
Holland, K., & Jenkins, J. (2019). Applying the Roper-Logan-Tierney model in practice (3rd ed.). Churchill Livingstone.
McCormack, B., & McCance, T. (2017). Person-centred Nursing. John Wiley & Sons.
Newton, C. (1991). The Roper-Logan-Tierney model in action. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Peate, I. (2019). Learning to care: The nursing associate. Elsevier.
Price, B. (2022). Delivering person-centred Care in Nursing. Sage.