Old Age Is Partially Responsible For The Risk Of Developing Health Related Issues Within The Elderly Population

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.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a holistic assessment of an older adult using the SPICES tool.

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

In searching for resources for this assignment, most of the articles written have at least one thing in common. The baby boomers are getting older, as a result, they will represent 20% of the total population from now until 2030. The number of persons who are 65 years and older is 12% of the population, the life expectancy of 77.9 years has caused this increase. The older people over age 85 is at about 40%, and the number of centenarians is on the rise (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Longer life expectancies will intensify the demand for competent geriatric nursing care to reduce the years in which function and health are impaired. It is exciting to see that quality geriatric nursing education

The phenomenon of the ageing population is bringing pressure worldwide to the healthcare system as people live longer and experience greater comorbidities for longer. This ageing population has a strong effect on the aged care sector of health and nursing as there is greater demand for services and stricter limitations to budgeting and time allocated to administering the care required. This trend is causing additional strain on the staffing retention and skills mixes available to the workers in aged care and it is crucial that management be aware of the factors influencing their staffs’ satisfaction and morale if there is to be any improvement in the numbers of workers staying in aged care. Nurses are in the unique position and are crucial to clinical governance and care in this setting and are a key aspect to delivering great care; nurses are a resource to be greater valued.

The person who I choose to interview for this paper is my grandmother Sharon Bryant (née Kimple), and the main reason I chose to interview her was that I really did not know much about her life story and wanted to learn more. Currently she is 72 years old, and lives in Vancouver, Washington with her husband of 52 years Allan Bryant. She has been retired for the past two years and enjoys spending her free time quilting and sewing, and does not have any major medical issues aside from a few allergies.

Third, I completed the Fulmer Spices Overall assessment, which shown no problem with sleeping disorders, eating or feeding, incontinence, confusion, and no evidence of a habitual history of falls, nor skin breakdown. I felt that this assessment connected with the competence #3, “Use valid and reliable assessment tools to guide nursing practice for older adults” (Touhy & Jett 2012).

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

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.

This paper will discuss the relationship between the aging process and key diseases associated with aging. Examples of aging-associated diseases include cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases (López-Otín, Blasco, Partridge, Serrano, & Kroemer, 2013, p. 1194). Of these, we will discuss in-depth recent studies that have linked aging with Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. These diseases affect a significant proportion of the population over the age of 65 and place a considerable burden on the American health care system. Therefore, a better understanding of how they are related to aging and each other can result in the adoption of innovative treatments and declined risk for older adults.

Chronic conditions are associated with aging as concluded by (Niccoli & Partridge, 2012). As growth occurs, the body cells tend to decrease in function and become susceptible to diseases. However, individual lifestyle and comorbidity, such as smoking and obesity could lead to early chronic diseases such as Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Respiratory failure, and bone diseases (Fabbri, Luppi, Beghe, & Rabe, 2008). Caring for patients with such complex conditions could be challenging for nurses as well as other healthcare professional and could lead to poor care coordination, having to prioritize the care and consider the consequences of their actions and inactions (Schoen, Osborn, Squires, Doty, Pierson, & Applebaum, 2011). The complexity identified in Rowena’s case presentation is her comorbid obesity and her history of heavy smoking which could be linked to her past medical diagnosis; hypertension, DM, mild emphysema, as well as her current diagnosis of Respiratory failure (Fabbri et al., 2008).

Chronic disease and conditions are usually defined as those diseases which last for more than six months and which have a severe effect on the life of the individuals (Chronic Conditions and Injury, para.1). While chronic diseases can affect people of all ages and demographics, these types of diseases are very often found in the elderly. Chronic disease are also characterized by "…multiple risk factors, long latency periods, a prolonged course of illness and functional impairment or disability" (Key indicators of progress for chronic disease and associated determinants, 2011, p. 1). Chronic disease is also found to be more prevalent in the ageing demographic of most countries.

Although we all become old someday, how many people are aware of what are normal or abnormal processes of aging? It is very important for us as nursing students to learn about them in order to take care of older adults. As a part of geriatric clinical, I had an opportunity to interview one of the residents at the Continuing Care Center.