Psychogeriatric Care in a Forensic Setting: Mitigating Stress and Burnout for Forensic Nurses

Abstract

Background and Objectives With an aging population and projected increased prevalence of dementia, it has become increasingly important that nurses are equipped to provide appropriate psychogeriatric care. Patients with dementia are more likely to commit legal violations related to their behavioural and psychosocial symptoms, therefore there is a concern with how forensic nurses will be able to manage this population when psychogeriatric and forensic care intersect. Methods Stress and burnout from providing geriatric care is related to lack of knowledge in providing care for this population, conditions of work, including staffing, heavy workload; and taking care of clients with disabilities, agitation, or dementia. Thus, it is imperative that we explore how nursing staff can effectively manage psychogeriatric care in a forensic setting to minimize stress and burnout of staff. Results Five options for geriatric service enhancement will be explored: (1) Provide Gentle Persuasive Approach training to forensic staff; (2) hold an ethics review for staff to discuss the use of therapeutic lying; (3) modify existing policies and procedures to support appropriate geriatric care; (4) augment baseline staffing to include psychiatric care aides in skill mix; (5) and create a secure forensic unit for geriatric populations. Conclusion The author argues that further research is needed that will determine the design of a new Psychogeriatric Forensic Centre.