The best offense, they say, is more defense. When it comes to the health and well-being of our most at-risk population in nursing homes, this old adage is all the more salient. The last thing that nursing home staff, families, and loved ones want to see is a resident going in and out of different systems. Yet, much of the way that we manage care is in reaction to symptoms.
An often overlooked parameter is the consideration of hydration. Being properly hydrated solves a myriad of problems – and notably – before many of these problems become larger problems.
Unique challenges in nursing homes
Nursing homes have unique issues to face as they often work with a demographic of patients at risk for weight loss, malnutrition, wounds, or infections. Additionally, many patients in their care are being administered medications that may have contributing side effects, worsening their health in other ways. These risks can be made worse and lead to comorbidities or even contribute to an early risk of death if the patient is also dehydrated.
Dehydration in nursing homes is a leading issue for many residents with 50%-90% of patients at risk for dehydration. Sadly, many who are dehydrated are unaware that they are or that their medications may be worsening the problem.
While 51% of patients are considered dehydrated, according to plasma osmolality, another 89% of patients may even be severely dehydrated. For nursing homes to prevent a cascading effect stemming from dehydration, a more in-depth look at the issue will help shed light on a solution.
Why there is a hydration gap
While water intake seems like a simple solution to combating dehydration, it often falls short. Water intake only brings water into the body, while hydration is created by bringing water into the cells. The bottom line is that simply orally drinking water is not enough to hydrate the body.
Electrolytes, which contain vitamins and minerals, are what allow hydration to occur. For some patients, the necessary vitamins and minerals they need are not able to be met by just diet and water alone. This means they need supplementations to help them stay hydrated.
When dehydration occurs, a dehydration cascade often follows, putting further strain on a nursing home and its patients. During dehydration, the body can go through an intracellular fluid shift that moves water out of the organs and into the bloodstream to help the body balance extracellular fluid. When this happens, patients will often find that they have shifts in their mood and difficulty with their cognition and will experience an increase of fatigue. These changes often cause reduced patient participation and may require reactive intervention.
Another issue that may occur is an increase in falls by patients. These falls can be serious enough to lead to surgery, which in turn contributes to surgical recovery, often with an increased hospital stay and sadly higher mortality rates.
A solution to dehydration crisis
While it is clear that there is a huge dehydration problem found in nursing homes that only leads to more issues, the solution to hydrating patients is not as clear. Fixing future issues can be as attainable as getting the main deficit under control. One leading solution to the hydration gap is the implementation of micronutrient supplementation. This science-back treatment plan seeks to be the solution to the hydration gap through using IV therapy.
By providing key micronutrients intravenously patients can see a rebalance of intracellular fluid, and a reset of their baseline so that they can have better oral hydration and improve their cognitive function. While this is not medication, the nutrition that is delivered through infusions can be curated based on the particular needs of the patient. The great thing about this is that each patient is treated uniquely so that their care is catered to their individual needs.
With the use of IV therapy, not only is hydration able to be restored to nursing home residents, but other issues and deficiencies can be addressed at the same time. For hydration, infusions include giving at-risk patients Vitamin C, B Complex, and B12. Other infusion options can be administered for derma, cognition, infections, and nutrition deficiencies.
Bringing it all together
Skilled nursing facilities have the unique opportunity to be able to get ahead of emergent situations before they happen. At the end of the day, nursing homes want to keep patients safe and secure and are continuously looking for effective ways in order for this to take shape.
For facilities, being proactive while simultaneously being cost-effective is a rare breed and one avenue that should be explored to the fullest. Water, as they say, is life — and hydration brings the ability to nourish and add micronutrients into the equation.
Brian Wallace is the Founder and President of NowSourcing, an industry-leading content marketing agency that makes the world’s ideas simple, visual, and influential. Brian has been named a Google Small Business Advisor for 2016-present, joined the SXSW Advisory Board in 2019-present and became an SMB Advisor for Lexmark in 2023. This article was written in conjunction with Dript.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
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