Aging Bias For The Elderly

Aging is a summary term of complex biological processes that occurs over the course of life. As an individual age’s, they experience a cognitive, functional and social decline that affects their activities of daily living and general health. As a result of these changes, the older population becomes more susceptible to a variety of illnesses. However, nurses can lessen the severity of these aging related illnesses by teaching and providing the best care for their clients in order to decrease the number of elders that suffer from these diseases through a variety of interventions and strategies. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the nurses’ role in promoting healthy aging in the older population, by addressing a significant issue that impairs the health of many older Canadian adults.

The key issues that I am going to discuss from my reflection are disempowerment due to a person’s age where either their family or care giver answer on behalf of the elderly patient and deny the patient of their own voice. Emotional problems are a common in the elderly and this particular psychological aspect often goes unnoticed.

Older people also suffer from more chronic health conditions than their younger counterparts, making their care much more involved and complex. For this reason, many health care professionals develop negative attitudes towards providing care for elderly. Their ageist attitudes can be expressed and experienced as microaggressions, making elders hesitant to seek and follow medical advice. Interestingly, nurses view working with elderly patients in a much more positive light. It is postulated that this is because the mission of nursing includes caring for people rather than seeking to cure them (Chrisler, Barney & Palatino, 2016).

Bonney, A., Jones, S. C., & Iverson, D. (2012). The older patient, the general practitioner and the trainee: patients' attitudes and implications for training.Education for Primary Care, 23(3), 186-195.

Heise says that with this large number of elderly taking up the population there will be a shortage of doctors due to the idea that society has done a poor job of valuing the elderly. She says that negative or neutral attitudes towards the elderly are common in this youth oriented society because the youth of today lack interest and caring of other individuals including the elderly (Heise et al). This type of attitude prevents the care that is needed for those who will take care of people as doctors in the United States; therefore, the second cause of the doctor shortage is in fact lack of care. In fact according to a study because of the lack of interest in one year only 75 residents entered the geriatrics field. The study shows that if this rate continues the number of needed specialist in geriatrics will rise to approximately 1,200 per year (Fried). The absence of caring in Millennials and Zers will ultimately create a gap in the care system which will be nearly impossible to recover.

Whilst searching for literature, it shown that some elderly patients specific needs were not being met. The World Health Organisation (WHO) believe that it is important for health professionals to take a holistic approach towards the elderly patients, to see explore any other possible factors that will influence the reduction of their quality of life. (WHO, 2011).

According to Statistics Canada, aging population has steadily increased since the mid-1960. The age of 65 and older comprised 15.7% of the country’s population. Promoting health in these aging population is very crucial to minimise the severity of health complications that might occur in the long run. Gerontological Nursing involves the care of aging people and emphasize the promotion of the highest possible quality of life and wellness throughout the lifespan (Eliopoulos, c2014 p73). Aging people need Gerontological Nurses who are knowledgeable and willing to promote health and optimum quality of life with the consideration of their core needs such as physiological balance, connection and gratification (Eliopoulos, c2014 p78).

Dignity is an important aspect throughout ones life, but becomes particularly in jeopardy when one becomes elderly. This makes it important to uphold the dignity of elders. In my prospective career as a nurse practioneer, I will have ample amount of opportunities to preserve the dignity of elderly patients. As a nurse practioneer I will be able to achieve this in a variety of ways, by promoting autonomy and maintaining the patients self-dignity.

There have been trends relating to the aging population that is affecting our healthcare system. With new advances in medical technology and treatment, people are living longer with what once used to be a terminal illness, now today these illnesses are treatable as chronic conditions (American Hospital Association, May 2007). As a result, as the baby boomers age, there will be more demand for healthcare services due to them living longer with chronic treatable conditions (American Hospital Association, May 2007). To meet the aging population demand for healthcare services, more medical professionals will be needed to be hired to provide medical care for them. Also, the aging population is becoming more ethnically diverse, there will require

Also, research reveals that RN’s ageist perceptions and behaviors have a negative impact to level of safety and quality of the nursing care provided to an older patient. In a critical review conducted by Brown et al. (2011) in 25 studies, older patients are exposed to under or over treatment. Examples of these in the nursing context are (1) insertion of indwelling catheters to avoid the inconvenience, exertion or pain of toileting and (2) failure to perform basic bed repositioning that contributes to increased pain suffering and pose potential risk of infection and further injury to the older patient. Also, misconception on the recuperative abilities of the older patient causes the RN to lose the ability to impartially and accurately assess

Older adults face longer hospital stays, complex health issues, difficult pain management, and less external support. These issues increase the need for concern and require the development of quality interpersonal relations between healthcare providers and older adults (Sorrell, 2010). In the United States, the prediction for 65 years and older will grow by 63% by the year 2020 (Terry, Biddle, Chatzisarantis, & Bell, 1997). As older adult population increases, quality healthcare providers will be needed to provide care and help older adults maintain functionality and independence. Healthcare providers are in need to work with older adults and foster attitudes to change healthcare culture. Currently, the healthcare system for older adults focuses

When most people envision an elderly person, their minds go to the iconic little old lady or man. They automatically think about them having psychological ailments such as dementia or Alzheimer’s. With this assumption comes many unfair prejudices in the work place or other

Over the last ten years, advocates for the care of seniors, such Adult Gerontological Doctor of Nursing Practitioners, have pursued organizational policy and legislative reform regarding dignity in the care of senior patients. [1] To address the departure from current polices and clinical practice in treating seniors, it helps to understand senior care from the rarely reviewed perspective of nurse practitioners.

This paper is a homework assignment for the University of Southern Maine nursing students in the summer 2015 session of NUR 332: Nursing Care Older Adult Community class. The focus of the paper is based on a home visit conducted by a University of Southern Maine nursing student with a 76-year-old, white female. During the visit the nursing student will use evidence based screening tools and other assessment strategies to evaluate the older adult's over health status, feelings about aging, how they are dealing with the normal progress of aging and what influences nursing care could have on the older adults

Geriatrics is defined as the department of medicine dealing especially with the problems of aging and diseases of the elderly. Nevertheless, in medical care this group is not easily defined; looking at gerontology, which is the biological study of aging the preferred age of definition is greater than 65 years old. “At the beginning of the 20th century, persons 65 years of age and older constituted just 4% of the population in the United States and numbered 3.1 million” (Shi & Singh, 2015, p.389). Studies all indicate that as the “baby boom generation” reaches 65, the elderly population’s number will reach 20%. In geriatric care, gerontology then looks at the “oldest old” are those over the age of 85