GERONTOLOGICAL NURSING 10TH EDITION
ELIOPOULOS COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
2026 AGING AND OLDER ADULT CARE
PRINCIPLES
◉ Older Adult is classified as. Answer: 65 years of age and older
◉ Gerontology. Answer: Study of all aspects of aging and its
consequences
◉ Gerontological Nursing. Answer: specialized nursing with
knowledge of illness and health of aging
◉ Role of general gerontological nurse. Answer: -direct care
providers
-case managers
-nurse leaders
-educators
-patient advocates
-administers
,◉ Role of advanced practice gerontological nurse. Answer: -health
promotion
-disease prevention
-long-term management of chronic conditions
◉ normal changes of aging include. Answer: - Heart: Muscle thickens
and ability to pump diminishes
- Arteries: Stiffen/Harden blood oxygen levels decrease
- Lung: Less elastic, and breathing capacity declines
- Brain: Loses some axons and neurons - some memory loss
- Kidneys: Less efficient
- Bladder: Capacity declines
- Body fat: increases in middle age then declines - settles in
middle/trunk
-max breathing capacity in the lungs decline
-Bone: Density decreases - prone to fracture
-Sight: Ability to focus decrease after age 40, decrease in visual
acuity
- Hearing: Difficulty to hear high frequencies/ background noise
-muscle mass is lost (especially in women who have less baseline
bone mass)
-muscle mass can decline rapidly without exercise
, ◉ What generally stays the same when aging?. Answer: personality
(i.e: someone who was crabby as a teen should still be crabby)
◉ History of Gerontology Focuses. Answer: Past focus: Study,
diagnose, and treat disease
Current focus: Improvement of health holistically
- Physical
- Mental
- Emotional
- Spiritual well-being
◉ what is the fastest growing segment of the population. Answer:
the older (over 85) group grow at twice the rate of those 65 and over
and 4 times faster than the total US population; this group will triple
in size by 2050
◉ Sex differential of aging. Answer: -women comprise the majority
of the older population worldwide at 55%
-US ratio of people over 65 is 49 men to 100 women
-older women face different socio-economic circumstance
(particularly after the lose of a spouse because they have never
worked themselves)
-differences has narrowed over time between separate countries
ELIOPOULOS COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
2026 AGING AND OLDER ADULT CARE
PRINCIPLES
◉ Older Adult is classified as. Answer: 65 years of age and older
◉ Gerontology. Answer: Study of all aspects of aging and its
consequences
◉ Gerontological Nursing. Answer: specialized nursing with
knowledge of illness and health of aging
◉ Role of general gerontological nurse. Answer: -direct care
providers
-case managers
-nurse leaders
-educators
-patient advocates
-administers
,◉ Role of advanced practice gerontological nurse. Answer: -health
promotion
-disease prevention
-long-term management of chronic conditions
◉ normal changes of aging include. Answer: - Heart: Muscle thickens
and ability to pump diminishes
- Arteries: Stiffen/Harden blood oxygen levels decrease
- Lung: Less elastic, and breathing capacity declines
- Brain: Loses some axons and neurons - some memory loss
- Kidneys: Less efficient
- Bladder: Capacity declines
- Body fat: increases in middle age then declines - settles in
middle/trunk
-max breathing capacity in the lungs decline
-Bone: Density decreases - prone to fracture
-Sight: Ability to focus decrease after age 40, decrease in visual
acuity
- Hearing: Difficulty to hear high frequencies/ background noise
-muscle mass is lost (especially in women who have less baseline
bone mass)
-muscle mass can decline rapidly without exercise
, ◉ What generally stays the same when aging?. Answer: personality
(i.e: someone who was crabby as a teen should still be crabby)
◉ History of Gerontology Focuses. Answer: Past focus: Study,
diagnose, and treat disease
Current focus: Improvement of health holistically
- Physical
- Mental
- Emotional
- Spiritual well-being
◉ what is the fastest growing segment of the population. Answer:
the older (over 85) group grow at twice the rate of those 65 and over
and 4 times faster than the total US population; this group will triple
in size by 2050
◉ Sex differential of aging. Answer: -women comprise the majority
of the older population worldwide at 55%
-US ratio of people over 65 is 49 men to 100 women
-older women face different socio-economic circumstance
(particularly after the lose of a spouse because they have never
worked themselves)
-differences has narrowed over time between separate countries
