A Brief Note On The Elderly Population Around The World

Providing eldercare to sick and aging loved ones increases women’s risk of living in poverty later in life, and specifically at retirement age due to the negative health and financial implications including gaps or decreases in employment, losses in retirement income, and the use of savings to cover out-of-pocket costs (Wakabayashi, Donato, 2006). The elderly population in the United States continues to grow at a significant rate, with estimates that approximately 80 million adults will be over the age of sixty-five by the year 2030 (Bookman, Kimbrel, 2011). Approximately seventy-five percent of elderly persons who require assistance with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living receive that support in the form

In the beginning, when I began brainstorming about this competency I felt as if it was a demand need for everyone to be aware about. I have seen individuals being decline of services for a variety of reasons, and it makes earning those services harder when they aren’t within personal reach. I witnessed this during my placement, as well as my personal life. During my placement, I realized that the elderly population still often have the chance to be denied for services, support and have their rights being acknowledged.

Stroke is known as cerebrovascular accident or brain attack. It occurs as a result of sudden impairment of cerebral circulation in one or more blood vessel. This lead to diminish oxygen supply and commonly causes serious damage in the brain tissue (Nettina et al, 2013). Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide and the fourth in the UK (Stroke Association, 2015). Yearly, approximately 152000 people in the UK have a stroke, that represent 11% of all deaths in England and Wales (Hutchinson and Wilson, 2013). For the enormous majority of 67% of stroke survivors in the UK, one of the first difficulties on the path to recovery is swallowing dysfunction (Dworzynski, 2013). 50% of stroke survivors experience dysphagia in the acute phase

In Canada, the demographic of seniors, who are the age of sixty-five and older, is changing. With the changes in composition of senior population which they account for an ever-increasing proportion in Canada, people should pay more attention to this group. More specifically, with elder abuse. According to Statistics Canada (2010), there has been a steadily increase of the senior’s proportion in Canada, “since 1960, increasing from 8% at the time to 14% in 2009”; by 2036, seniors are projected to account “23% to 25%” of the Canadian population (p3, para.2). An individual might question the importance of these increase percentages in senior population? These number provides that as most of the Canadian population is growing, it may lead to an

The elderly have had considerably lowering SNAP take-up rates than other age groups. The growing aging population created a downward trajectory for participation rates because as more become eligible for SNAP they continue to have one of the lowest rates of SNAP take-up. Additionally, the take-up among the aging population drastically varies by state impacting the overall participation rate among the subgroup. States that have a high proportion of eligible seniors living in rural areas have lower elderly SNAP take-up rates, than those states where more eligible elderlies lives in more urban areas. States in the Northeast like Vermont and Massechesutts have elderly SNAP take-up rates in the 60% range, while states like Wyoming, Arkansas, and Kansas have elderly SNAP take-up rates between 24% and 27%. Thus, as Americans age the overall SNAP participation is impacted (Cunnyngham, 2010; Gundersen & Ziliak, 2008; Ziliak, 2013). Consequently, as the elderly population grows it becomes an important population to examine with regard to why their participation rates are so low.

This article researched patients with swallowing functions over the first six months after acute stroke. They identify the important clinical factors that associated with an increased risk of swallowing dysfunctions and complications. The studies relied on bedside clinical examinations to diagnose dysphagia and assessed swallowing function for two weeks after the patient’s stroke.

According to the Chattanooga Group, a therapeutical device manufacturer, “Dysphagia… impacts as many as 15 million Americans, with approximately one million people receiving a new diagnosis of the condition” (Dysphasia). Dysphasia can occur when one of the swallowing stages is weak, such as the tongue. Food will enter the throat and stop air from entering the lungs. Unfortunately, 1 out of 17 people will have some type of dysphasia at some point. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the amount of deaths from liver, kidney, and HIV/AIDS diseases is less than the amount from dysphagia. More than 60,000 people succumb to aspiration pneumonia, or when food enters the lungs. The Veterans Affairs (VA) reported that, in senior citizens, pneumonia from dysphagia is “the fifth leading cause of death of Americans over the age of 65”, and up to 90% of people with Parkinson’s disease or ALS will have dysphagia

Oftentimes, Anorexia Nervosa is classified as a psychological disorder and is not viewed as an instigator of communication disorders. Besides the obvious negative consequences of eating disorders, anorexia can cause an onset of dysphagia. Anorexia is a terrible disease and the annual death rate is approximately 12 times higher than the death rate of all causes of death among females ages 15 to 24 (Holmes, Gudridge, Gaudiani, & Mehler, 2012). Severe anorexia Nervosa encompasses a plethora of medical complications that affects each body system and causes severe weakness (Holmes, Gudridge, Gaudiani, & Mehler, 2012). At this time, Speech Language Pathology (SLP) is not well versed in treatment and management of anorexia conditions. Veldee

Help your loved one identify which foods and drinks they should avoid. They can help identify which foods triggering the dysphagia, and which type of foods your loved one doesn't have the muscular strength to handle at the

The primary diagnosis associated with these participants dysphagia is stroke in three out of the six participants , and all participants were under the age of 90 (Carnaby-Mann and Crary, 2008). The investigation was about whether NMES was effective treatment for swallowing disorders. The participants had to obtain a score of 23 or greater on the mini mental state examination (MMSE) and a score of 5 or less on the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS), and lastly the participants could not have received swallowing therapy within the last three months (Carnaby-Mann and Crary 2008). Before therapy began baseline scores were collected including clinical and instrumental swallowing evaluation, documentation of weight and the participants of self perception of swallowing ability. The Mann Assessment of swallowing ability (MASA) was used to assess swallowing ability. A videofluoroscopic swallowing evaluation was conducted to confirm the presence of pharyngeal dysphagia (Carnaby-Mann and Crary 2008). Materials used in this examination were thin liquid, nectar thick liquid, and pudding in both 5ml-10ml amounts, and modified per participant. Effort was made to present each material to each participant, but if participant aspirated in large quantities the

Twenty-six patients with dysphagia resulting from stroke participated in this study. All patients suffered monohemispheric stroke and were assigned randomly to treatment and sham treatment groups. Fourteen patients were assigned to the treatment group and twelve patients were assigned to the sham treatment group. Patients received repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment over the esophageal motor cortex to the affected motor cortex for five consecutive days with pulses at intensity levels of 120% over their hand motor threshold for 300 pulses. Motor disability and dysphasia were assessed “before and immediately after the last session and then again after 1 and 2 months” (p. 155).

Dysphagia is a term used in health care to define the symptom of difficulty swallowing. It is defined as any impairment in drinking, eating or swallowing ( Lewis, 2014). It occurs when there is any change in the neural functioning or any weakness of muscles that help us to swallow the food, most commonly the esophagus and the facial muscles. However, sometimes it is the tongue that is unable to push the food posteriorly towards the pharynx for further digestion. Studies have shown that approximately 53%–74% of long-term care facility residents have dysphagia (CAN training advisor, 2014). It is more common in older clients and the ones who have experienced stroke at some point in their lifetime. In Canada, approximately half of all new stroke

Recent literature has shown an increased amount of research regarding the geriatric population. This is especially important to the field of physical therapy as a large population requiring care from physical therapists are individuals within this population. According to the American Physical Therapy Association (2016), physical therapists in acute care and subacute hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home care reported that the greatest percentage of their patient case loads were older individuals aged 65 and above.

She was on a dysphagia 1 diet and was receiving her pills crushed in applesauce. She wasn’t tolerating it well because it was so bitter. Since I observed her eating her breakfast without any problems, and since the order to crush her pills was a nursing order, we tried her on swallowing pills with water. She did really well with this, so I spoke with her nurse about changing her order. This nursing intervention we implemented deals specifically with learning outcome #2 which talks about analyzing nursing interventions as they relate to health promotion in the older adult. The intervention we implemented promoted our patient’s comfort and also led to decreased gagging and greater adherence to taking medications. Another less critical intervention I implemented were daily cares such as bathing, ambulating, and changing her gown. These were also interventions for comfort and that contributed to the patient feeling better about herself which will lead to healing.

Dysphagia can also result as a symptom of neurodegenerative disease such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Cancer of the head, neck, or esophagus and treatments for these cancers may cause swallowing problems. Some people may be completely unable to swallow or may have trouble safely swallowing liquids, foods, or saliva. So eating becomes a challenge to them. Dysphagia makes it difficult to take in enough calories and fluids to nourish the body, which often leads to weight loss. Undernutrition has frequently been observed in dysphagic individuals as well as other health issues including reduced autonomy, confusion, constipation, dehydration, pressure ulcers, immunodeficiency, infections and decreased quality of life (Biena et al., 1982; Curran et al., 1990; Keller,