An Accurate Plan Of Care For Older Adults

More people are living much longer lives than in years past. People are very surprised to be living much longer lives than they thought they would. Health care has played a large part in patient longevity. There are many normal changes that come along with aging, however, because people are living longer these normal changes can become chronic problems. Common aging problems that can make the older adult a vulnerable population are reviewed in Gerontological Nursing (Tabloski, 2014) and can include nutritional needs, medication management, sleep changes, oral or mouth care, renal problems and musculoskeletal concerns. According to A Profile of Older Americans: 2013 (http://www.hhs.gov), there are a large amount

Many elderly and their family cannot determine what are normal aging and what are not; therefore, educating them is the key role for nurses to promote safety and health for older adults. Not only assessing physical changes but also mental health assessment is important because those age-related physical changes may cause depression in older adults, which leads to other problems like “difficulty with sleeping,

As a person ages, theirs body cannot perform the way it used to. This will cause many elderly people to loose their job or choose to go into retirement. Both of these options cause a loss in health care as well and a reduced or exterminated income. Here alone lies a reason that the elderly population is challenged. The elderly population also has a tendency to develop a chronic illness that can be life threatening if not treated or controlled properly. This means that need for health care treatments also increases. At least 40% of those over age 65 will have nutrition-related health problems requiring treatment or management (Gigante, 2012). It is important to realize that 10% of people over the age of 65 and will develop Alzheimer’s disease and 50% of those over the age of 85 will develop this disease (Gigante, 2012). More elderly African American men and women use government aid than white men and women. Therefore, this population will be vulnerable because of the lack of funding, proper health care and insurance.

Much of this timing is based on genetics, lifestyle, and access to health care. In general, people have learned stereotypes regarding the elderly. Some of these stereotypes are accurate, but they do not pertain to all the elderly population. Health care providers have come to expect changes in the elderly. However, it is important not to make assumptions, and to use assessment tools to identify changes the elderly may have encountered. Some of the areas the clinician may expect to find changes include: mobility, ambulation, nutritional intake, continence, and skin changes (Tabloski, 2014). The result of these changes includes a multitude of challenges for the elderly. It is important for the clinician to obtain an accurate functional and psychological assessment of the geriatric patient prior to deciding a plan of

From birth, the body and mind go through physical and cognitive changes that human beings will have to adapt to throughout life. Some individuals lose mental and physical abilities age they age that allow them to live a normal lifestyle. The most common age-related physical changes include hearing impairment, weakening vision, and the increasing probability of multiple chronic conditions such as arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis (Abeles, 1998). The most common cognitive changes associated with normal aging are short-term, or primary, memory loss, long-term, or secondary, memory loss, and the overall levels of performance in sustained attention. Other issues relative to aging and cognitive memory impairments are anxiety disorder, panic disorder, chronic pain, and mood disorders. This issue may cause several social, medical and family problems as individual

The elderly population is growing with 35 million people who are age 65 years or older and half are between the ages of 65 to 74 and the other half are over the age of 75. The population age 85 years or older are the fastest growing population (Dubow, 2017). In 1991 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that 8 out of 10 people over the age of 60 had one or more chronic diseases or impairments which included arthritis, hypertension, hearing impairment, heart disease, cataracts, deformity or orthopedic impairment, chronic sinusitis,

Aging is a gradual, continuous process of natural change which begin to decline many bodily functions. These changes increase the risk of developing health-related problems within the older adults. The fulmer SPICES is a tool for assessing older populations that focuses on six main conditions which include sleep disorders, problems with eating or feeding, incontinence, confusion, evidence of falls, and skin breakdown. Upon interview/exam if the patient has no problems noted on chart then score will be zero, if patient problem noted on chart and history of problem then score will be 1 and lastly if the problem is found on the day of assessment either in chart or on exam then score will be 2 on the assessment tool (Fulmer, 2007). This assessment used to plan, promote, and maintain optimal function in elderly adults. Also, the SPICES assessment is done regularly that can signal for the need for specific assessment and interventions for these conditions (Fulmer, 2007). This assessment can be used for both healthy and frail older

This problem usually occurs sooner in women, and can lead to bone fractures due to osteoporosis (Kart et al., 1992). Women have higher levels of pain severity and more disabilities than men (Fillingim et al., 2009). Therefore, elderly people with musculoskeletal pain avoid physical activity because of increasing pain. Eventually, this tendency for them to engage in less physical activity will lead to a declining physical function, especially when muscle weakness is accompanied by joint pain, joint instability, and

Ageing is a fact of life. If you’re fortunate, your mum and dad will live for a long time and enjoy a good quality of life with little assistance. However, you can’t rely on it being that way. There may come a time when your parents will require assistance and care beyond what you’re able to provide them without getting outside help. Aged Care Planning is a vital part of ensuring their health and well-being.

addition to this, the older adult population faces also many changes and challenges during health

In response to the global aging issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) has, during the last decade, focused on the concept of “Active Aging” and emphasized

According to the article Postural balance and falls in elderly nursing home residents enrolled in a ballroom dancing program. As part of the aging process, people are getting older also the muscles are getting weaker due to the organs aging as well. The number of the cells in the body are keeping decreasing due to the cells die and can not replace like young age does, which cause delay function in the body such as metabolism, and blood flows. Additional, one of the most common aging signs involve such as musculoskeletal system, hearing, visual, somatosensory, and central nervous systems. The musculoskeletal system parts are responsible for the person’s motion range that including joint motion, flexibility, muscle strength, and body balance.

Nutrition is an very important factor of health and affects the aging process in the elderly population. Malnutrition is increasing in this population and is connected with a decline in decreasing bone mass, reducing cognitive function, functional status, impairing immune function, poor wound healing, anemia and increasing hospital readmission rates, as well as mortality. As aging process, with a decline in physiological and biological functions such as reduced lean body mass, changes in cytokine and hormonal level, and changes in fluid electrolyte regulation, delay gastric emptying and diminish senses of smell and taste, elderly people usually reduce their appetite and energy expenditure. Additionally, pathologic changes of aging such as

The article summarizes that “A fall is an event that results in a person coming to rest unintentionally on the ground or floor or other lower level” (World Health Organization 2007) (1). The risk of falls and associated complications rise steadily with age and can be a marker of increased frailty. “Frailty is widely accepted to include a combination of weight loss, fatigue, reduced grip strength, diminished physical activity or slowed gait associated with increased risk of falls, loss of mobility, hospitalization, increasing disability and death” ( Fried, Tangen, Walston, et al. 2001) (2). “Physiotherapists leads falls clinics providing comprehensive assessment, identifying underlying pathologies such as (osteoporosis), signposting

Although there are currently no observable issues that are evident with Heather in the case study (her range of movements), I believe Heather’s age, gender and family history still puts her at a risk of musculoskeletal related problems in the future (DeLuane et al., 2016, p. 582-584) (Tollefson & Hillman, 2016, p. 73-75). There is a huge amount of evidence on the contribution of genetics to bone mineral density (Styrkarsdottir et al., 2016). Because of Heather’s sister’s history of low bone density, it could increase her risk of getting musculoskeletal related problems such as osteoporosis in the future as bone mineral density best predicts osteoporosis (Styrkarsdottir et al., 2016). Also, women who are aged 50 and over are 4x more susceptible to get the disease than men over 50 years old (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,