Evidence Based Quality Improvement For The Geriatric Population

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.

Quality of life is a concept that has been becoming a more integral part of health care and nursing theories as time passes by. Improving quality of life is one of the most important outcomes of nursing interventions and practice. The rising number of older adults with chronic diseases, the increased expectations and demands for a good life, and major changes in our healthcare system, has led to increased concern for the enhancement of quality of life of our aging population, but the ambiguous nature and subjectivity of this term leads to a lack of clarity on how this should be accomplished. (Plummer & Molzahn, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to

A reoccurring issue such as bedsores is something nursing home facilities try their best to prevent. Unfortunately, the rate at which it is occurring in our nursing home is 12%, a little higher than that of the national average. This is a number that we as a facility are not proud of, and as Director of Quality Improvement, new strategies will be implemented to improve the quality of care in which our patients are receiving. This simple plan mimics that of the FOCUS PDSA and can be broken down into a few steps in order to be better assessed. The first step involves creating a team of employees to research and better understand the main source of the bedsores. The second step includes developing a strategy, without any errors, within the team

Healthcare organizations throughout Canada are focusing more and more on the delivery of quality care to its patients and families. However, it is not enough to simply state this dedication, it must be proven with a plan that outlines clear aims, targets, and initiatives that implement evidence-based research (Sadeghi, Barzi, Mikhail, & Shabot, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to outline a quality improvement plan to address the rates of worsening pain in the elderly with dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment in the Veterans Centre (VC) at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

As people get old a few of them will experience changes in cognition with age related capacity rather than intellectual capacity. There are some people who get both disparities of mentally and physically impaired that will led into depression due to aging process of their body. Even though, the forgetfulness is a common among older adults, we as healthcare providers must evaluate altered mental status of the patients. “The evaluation and management of altered mental status are broad and require careful history and physical examination to eliminate life-threatening situations”(Patti & Dulebohn, 2017). Therefore, it is very important to recognize the importance of difference between normal age-related symptoms and developing new health problems that can arise in this specific population. As elders get older their memory lapses it frustrating to them leading them to be more worried about changes in their memory. Nurses have a unique capability to promote a cognitive health and determine the possibilities of potential cases of the impairment in elders. The movie “On Golden Pond” Mr. Norman was a perfect example and showed that his symptoms were interfering with his everyday live when he almost burns down the house with fire, calling Bill by his daughter’s name Chelsea and getting lost in on the lake. Even though, Mr. Norman had heart and dementia problems his wife never discouraged him to do what he liked such as

the way we are can be challenging and aging, even so much more. Taking care of the physical

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).

This paper examines the quality of care received by the elderly with an emphasis on measurements for care, recommending additional tools to be adopted to measure the overall well-being for the elderly in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the quality of care for those living in senior care facilities.

Reminiscing to 2010, when I was faced with my grandmother 's illness during the adolescent years in my life I knew that I had a passion to care for the elderly (aging) population. From this passion, it ignited a fire so strong that I pursue my certified nursing assistant certification to gain a better understanding of working with the elderly population. By doing so, it has been a great benefit to my life; aging is an inevitable experience that we all will go through during our life. It is important to ensure that our elderly individuals are still able to enjoy the best quality of life after retirement. However, as we age, there will be a lifestyle change that the aging population must encounter.

Cognitive aging is worthy of study for many reasons. The more knowledge that is uncovered about cognitive aging, the closer to possibly finding ways to slow the process down, decrease the intensity of the symptoms, or maybe prevent it all together. If there are possible ways of doing so it is important to find them. The “what” and “when” of cognitive aging has made advances, but the “why”, “where”, and “how” are still to be uncovered. We further our knowledge of the “why”, “where”, or “how”, or uncover the full truth, without knowing the full truth about the “what” and “when”. Finding out more about one might lead to learning more about another. Expanding our knowledge on cognitive aging has the potential to increase someone’s quality of life. It has the potential to increase that family member’s quality of life. Cognitive aging effects more than the victim, it effects their

As people grow older, they develop dental problems which lead to nutritional intake issues. Cognitive function declines affecting memory, decision making, conversing, and problem solving. In addition, falls can occur with mental status disturbances. Lack of social interaction, depression, and anxiety also crop up in the elderly. Sleep patterns are altered by restless legs, snoring, and disrupted breathing sequences. At times, pain can be constant from arthritis, osteoarthritis, or other medical issues (Tabloski, 2014).

As individuals age changes occur physiologically that are part of normal aging. These changes occur in all organ systems and can impact an individual’s quality of life. The changes related to aging can be attributed to an individual’s genetic make up, lifestyle, physical activity, and dietary lifestyle. Being able to differentiate between normal changes in aging against disease process is important because it can help clinicians develop a plan of care (Boltz, Capezuti, Fulmer, & Zwicker, 2012). Creating an accurate plan of care for older adults will greatly impact their quality of life.

By late adulthood none of us can dispute the physical signs of aging. As Erikson and colleagues (1986) have noted, “As the overall tonus of the body begins to sag and innumerable inner parts call attention to themselves through malfunction, the aging body is forced into a new sense of invalidness…The elder is obligated to turn attention from more interesting aspects of life to the demanding requirements of the body” (p. 309).

Aging is a phenomenon afflicting the human as a result of growth. According to the website Dictionary (1), aging is " a period of human life, measured by years from birth, usually marked by a certain stage or degree of mental or physical development and involving legal responsibility and capacity”. There are many changes occur on the human body during the aging period. In the beginning of this period the human will have some changes in the situation and the shape of his body, after that he will get some diseases that affect in the health status. Finally, he will forget, forgetfulness because some changes in the memory.

In Nursing homes, quality of care has undergone many changes since the early 1980’s to now. Quality of care is measured by four components: “consistency, holistic well-being, desirable clinical outcomes and prevention of undesirable consequences” (Singh, pg. 442). In the early 1980s, there were so many problems with nursing homes such as inadequate patient to nurse ratio, no on call registered nurses and poorly trained staff. A nurse not able to attend patients when needed is not reaching consistency. Holistic well-being was also not met as shown in YouTube video “Nursing Home Reform Then and Now” by patients looking very lifeless and unhappy. Desirable clinical outcomes have not been desirable. Nursing homes are experiencing negative quality