Page 121 - Petelin, Ana. 2021. Ed. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
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a mask, and they used to say: ‘come on, you will have coffee, take this use of personal protective equipment during the covid-19 epidemic in nursing homes - a students’ perspective 119
mask off sometime’ (S9).
In one case, it was also observed that asymptomatically infected staff
were still working: “At the end, the whole house got infected, everyone was in-
fected, all of the staff, people were working who were infected, asymptomatic
and symptomatic, as it seemed to someone to be working” (S9).
The same student also noticed the worrying careless attitude of those in
charge: “Because to say: yes, the best way is that everyone gets infected and then
it will get better. You can’t say that, speaking about people aged 80 and more!”
(S9).
PPE use and the residents
The students reported that the staff’s use of PPE was also a big problem for
the elderly, who already had their social contacts drastically reduced and few-
er daily activities. The staff were also so busy that they did not have time to talk
etc. Students noticed that personal contact between the staff and residents was
greatly impaired by the use of PPE and that users often felt distressed: “Social
contacts suffered at the expense of everything else. There were also many (res-
idents) who could not even recognise such staff in this equipment at all” (S1).
They detected that PPE had reduced the quality of communication:
“There is less contact, even eye contact is worse, you hear worse, while touch in
the Tyvek and gloves is not the same as without them...” (S8).
There was a lack of understanding of the situation by people with demen-
tia: “One lady thought she was in jail and was apologising to us all the time”
(S10).
One student, who had worked at a nursing home with enough staff, re-
ported they were able to devote enough time to the residents’ social contacts.
We took those who were in bed all the time in front of the glass door,
to be seen through it, we lifted the bed for them to see, and then we
held the phone to their ears so they could talk live to their loved ones.
Yeah, we improvised a little. And we also made video calls for them.
(S10)
Discussion and conclusion
We may conclude from our results that the staff and residents in Slovenia’s
nursing homes encountered similar problems to those described by other re-
searchers abroad – a shortage of staff, poor quality PPE, the lack of clear guide-
lines for work, and deficient knowledge among the staff (Szczerbinska, 2020,
Thompson et al., 2020). A lack of PPE can prove to be very dangerous – staff is
consequently under greater psychological pressure and, when PPE is reused,
life-threatening mistakes can occur very quickly. Good quality PPE is also es-
mask off sometime’ (S9).
In one case, it was also observed that asymptomatically infected staff
were still working: “At the end, the whole house got infected, everyone was in-
fected, all of the staff, people were working who were infected, asymptomatic
and symptomatic, as it seemed to someone to be working” (S9).
The same student also noticed the worrying careless attitude of those in
charge: “Because to say: yes, the best way is that everyone gets infected and then
it will get better. You can’t say that, speaking about people aged 80 and more!”
(S9).
PPE use and the residents
The students reported that the staff’s use of PPE was also a big problem for
the elderly, who already had their social contacts drastically reduced and few-
er daily activities. The staff were also so busy that they did not have time to talk
etc. Students noticed that personal contact between the staff and residents was
greatly impaired by the use of PPE and that users often felt distressed: “Social
contacts suffered at the expense of everything else. There were also many (res-
idents) who could not even recognise such staff in this equipment at all” (S1).
They detected that PPE had reduced the quality of communication:
“There is less contact, even eye contact is worse, you hear worse, while touch in
the Tyvek and gloves is not the same as without them...” (S8).
There was a lack of understanding of the situation by people with demen-
tia: “One lady thought she was in jail and was apologising to us all the time”
(S10).
One student, who had worked at a nursing home with enough staff, re-
ported they were able to devote enough time to the residents’ social contacts.
We took those who were in bed all the time in front of the glass door,
to be seen through it, we lifted the bed for them to see, and then we
held the phone to their ears so they could talk live to their loved ones.
Yeah, we improvised a little. And we also made video calls for them.
(S10)
Discussion and conclusion
We may conclude from our results that the staff and residents in Slovenia’s
nursing homes encountered similar problems to those described by other re-
searchers abroad – a shortage of staff, poor quality PPE, the lack of clear guide-
lines for work, and deficient knowledge among the staff (Szczerbinska, 2020,
Thompson et al., 2020). A lack of PPE can prove to be very dangerous – staff is
consequently under greater psychological pressure and, when PPE is reused,
life-threatening mistakes can occur very quickly. Good quality PPE is also es-
