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Chapter 5 Findings
that must have been what they got and the roast – the Sunday roast
the same thing, it brings it back to them. He was bawling crying and
he refused to have the custard. It was kind of like ‘No, I’m here, I
don’t want that’.”
(H04)
One resident participant felt that staff did not interact or communicate with him
as a person:
“They don’t think of me as person, just a patient”
(R07) (Barthel 8)
One nurse participant suggested that if there were photos around then it might
help to get to know the residents better:
“And I’d like as well to see more pictures of them when they were
younger around.”
(S07)
Some staff participants described how they get to know the residents’ likes and
dislikes:
“And you have to know what they like and what they don’t like and
you have to wait for them and observe them, how they behave and
what they expect from us.”
(S09)
“The kind of feeling I get from them.”
(S10)
While family confirmed that the staff do try to find out what a resident
likes:
“And it was the food and they used to make a great effort in finding
out what his likes and dislikes were.”
(F04) (Barthel 2)
Some staff participants described the importance of understanding how age
affects the resident and how this affects the approach in the person-to-person
communication and interaction:
“You have to get to know the patient and because they’re elderly
they do want things done their way and that took time and I had to