Sensory impairments but what about? (Essay Sample)

Sensory Impairments
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Sensory Impairments
In the standard hospital setting, the registered nurse may encounter patients with various sensory impairments. The patients may be revealing of their impairment, or they may choose to hide this impairment. The reasons for such behavior vary for each patient, considering that their impairment may be a factor contributing to the concealment of it. The nurse has to be considerate of several issues while handling the patients with impairments. Safety has to be kept as a priority, with each type of sensory impairment being accorded different measures (Hinkle & Cheever, 2013).
Cognitive impairment can have a distressing impact on the patient’s emotional and physical nature. An understanding of the level of concentration, memory and learning abilities of the patient will provide a degree of how important it is to limit the patient’s freedom within the hospital environment as a safety measure. This is not a subject that can be concealed since the resident nurse will realize that sooner or later, the patient’s cognitive abilities are limited. Although the patients with cognitive disorder try to hide this, it is easy to establish the type of limitation that the patient has. It is better if it is already diagnosed as custom safety measures can be put up (Taylor, Lilis, LeMone & Lynn, 2011). Sensory processing disorder limits the patient’s ability to interact with their environment. When dealing with patients with such a disorder, the environment has to be heavily customized to accommodate possibilities of accidents, medical error and situational misjudgment (by the patient or the health care professional). In comparison, a conversion syndrome will cause the patient neurological issues that limit their handling.
In the external environment, patients with the above impairments are limited to their inability to relate to their environments as efficiently as other persons. They may feel depressed especially if their condition is neurological. The patient’s limitations vary with their actual impairment. Patients with cognitive impairment may be limited in concentration, quick decision making and environmental adaptation of thoughts (Barker, 2008). This would mean that their ability to go out in public would be limited since their adaptive thoughts are limited. Those with any form of a sensory processing disorder would also be limited in a similar manner. These persons have a slowed down response to external stimuli, which is an essential in everyday living in the world. The patients with this disorder would require accompanying anytime they need to go out, with the person accompanying them having full knowledge of handling such a patient.
In rehabilitative practice, the registered nurse should actively identify the needs of the individual and in the same way guide their adaptation to the impairment. The nurse should first create a (physical) connection to the patient, build trust and create an easy environment to foster rapid recovery. The tactics involved will includ...