Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
Chap 14 Older adult
• People who are 65 years old are in the lower boundary for “old age” in
demographics and social policy within the United States. However, many older
adults consider themselves to be “middle-age” well into their seventh decade.
• Chronological age often has little relation to the reality of aging for an older adult.
Each person ages in his or her own way. Every older adult is unique, and as a nurse
you need to approach each as an individual.
• America is aging. The number of older adults in the United States is growing,
both absolutely and as a proportion of the total population.
• There has been a 21% increase in the older adult population since 2002. Part of this
increase is caused by the increase of the average life span. The aging of the baby-boom
generation and the growth of the population segment older than 85 years contribute
to the projected increase in the number of older adults.
• When caring for this group of patients, nurses must consider cultural, ethnic, and
racial diversity.
• The challenge is to gain new knowledge and skills to provide culturally sensitive
and linguistically appropriate care.
• [Ask students: Do you believe longer life span, better medicine, better treatments,
better diagnostic testing, and aging baby boomers makes it easier to treat older adults?
Discuss.]
Variability Among Older Adults
• Most older adults are active and involved members of their communities. A smaller
number have lost the ability to care for themselves, are confused or withdrawn,
and/or are unable to make decisions concerning their needs. Most older adults live in
noninstitutional settings. However, a smaller number have lost the ability to care for
themselves.
• Aging does not inevitably lead to disability and dependence. Most older people
remain functionally independent despite the increasing prevalence of chronic disease.
• Nursing assessment provides valuable clues to the effects of a disease or illness on
a patient’s functional status.
• When you assess older adults, you will need to identify their strengths, weaknesses,
and abilities when developing a plan of care.
• The physical and psychosocial aspects of aging are closely related. A reduced ability to
respond to stress, the experience of multiple losses, and the physical changes
associated with normal aging combine to place people at high risk for illness and
functional deterioration.
• Do not assume that all older adults have signs, symptoms, or behaviors representing
disease and decline or that these are the only factors you need to assess. You also
need to identify an older adult’s strengths and abilities during the assessment and
encourage independence as an integral part of your plan of care
,Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
Myths and Stereotypes
• When health care providers hold negative stereotypes about aging, their actions often
negatively affect the quality of patient care. Nursing care of older adults poses special
challenges because of great variation in their physiological, cognitive, and
psychosocial health.
• As nurses, you should not be susceptible to myths and stereotypes.
• Some people equate worth with productivity; therefore they think that older adults
become worthless after they leave the workforce. Others consider their knowledge
and experience too outdated to have any current value.
• Ageism typically undermines the self-confidence of older adults, limits their access to
care, and distorts caregivers’ understanding of the uniqueness of each older adult.
Always promote a positive perception regarding the aging process when you
establish therapeutic relationships and show respect to older adults.
• Older adults are a significant proportion of the consumer economy. As voters and
activists in various issues, they have a major influence in the formation of public
policy. Their participation adds a unique perspective on social, economic, and
technological issues because they have experienced almost a century of
developments.
• Even though older adults may be slower and may have troubles with vision, hearing,
and dexterity, when you plan care, you will take into account their positive attributes.
• Although reduced energy and endurance sometimes affect the process of learning,
older adults are lifelong learners.
• Older adults have been through the depression, wars, and changes in health care
throughout their lives. Living through all of these events and changes, they have
stories and examples of coping with change to share.
Nurses’ Attitudes Toward
Older Adults
• Positive attitudes are based in part on a realistic portrayal of the characteristics
and health care needs of older adults.
• It is critical for you to respect older adults and actively involve them in care
decisions and activities.
• In the past, institutional settings, such as hospitals and nursing centers, often treated
older adults as objects rather than independent, dignified people. The time has come
for nurses to recognize and address ageism by questioning prevailing negative attitudes
and stereotypes and reinforcing the realities of aging as they care for older adults in all
care settings.
Developmental Tasks
for Older Adults
• How older adults adjust to the changes of aging is highly individualized. Be sensitive to
the effect of losses on older adults and their families and be prepared to offer
,Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
support.
, Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
• Older adults need to adjust to the physical changes that accompany aging.
• Some older adults, both men and women, find it difficult to accept aging. Acceptance of
personal aging does not mean retreat into inactivity, but it does require a realistic
review of strengths and limitations.
• Need to cope with retirement, residence change, and death of loved ones. All require
an extended period of adjustment, during which assistance and support from health
care professionals, friends, and family members are necessary. Deaths represent both
losses and reminders of personal mortality. Coming to terms with them is often
difficult. By helping older adults through the grieving process.
• A variety of issues sometimes occur, including control of decision making, dependence,
conflict, guilt, and loss. How these issues surface in situations and how they are resolved
depend in part on the past relationship between the older adult and their adult
children.
• As adult children and aging parents negotiate the aspects of changing roles, nurses
are in the position to act as counselors for the entire family. Helping older adults
maintain their quality of life is often a priority. What defines quality of life is unique
for each person.
Community-Based and
Institutional Health Care
Services
• Nurses help older adults and their families by providing information and answering
questions as they make choices among care options. Your assistance is especially
valuable when patients and families need to make decisions about moving to a
nursing center.
• Some family caregivers consider nursing center placement when in-home care
becomes increasingly difficult, or when convalescence (recovery) from hospitalization
requires more assistance than the family is able to provide. Although the decision to
enter a nursing center is never final, and a nursing center resident is sometimes
discharged to home or another less-acute facility, many older adults may view the
nursing center as their final residence.
• The best way to evaluate the quality of a nursing center in a community is for the
patient and family to visit that facility and inspect it personally.
• The Medicare website (http://www.Medicare.gov/NHcompare) is an excellent resource
for information about the quality rating of a nursing center based on health
inspections, staffing, and quality measures of the facility. It offers a checklist.
• [Review Box 14-2, Focus on Older Adults: Selection of a Nursing Center or Home,
with students.]
Assessing the Needs of Older Adults
• Obtaining a complete assessment takes time; older adults have longer life and
medical history. Allow rest periods; be sure to review prescribed and over-the-
counter medications. Take into account vision and hearing constraints.
Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
Chap 14 Older adult
• People who are 65 years old are in the lower boundary for “old age” in
demographics and social policy within the United States. However, many older
adults consider themselves to be “middle-age” well into their seventh decade.
• Chronological age often has little relation to the reality of aging for an older adult.
Each person ages in his or her own way. Every older adult is unique, and as a nurse
you need to approach each as an individual.
• America is aging. The number of older adults in the United States is growing,
both absolutely and as a proportion of the total population.
• There has been a 21% increase in the older adult population since 2002. Part of this
increase is caused by the increase of the average life span. The aging of the baby-boom
generation and the growth of the population segment older than 85 years contribute
to the projected increase in the number of older adults.
• When caring for this group of patients, nurses must consider cultural, ethnic, and
racial diversity.
• The challenge is to gain new knowledge and skills to provide culturally sensitive
and linguistically appropriate care.
• [Ask students: Do you believe longer life span, better medicine, better treatments,
better diagnostic testing, and aging baby boomers makes it easier to treat older adults?
Discuss.]
Variability Among Older Adults
• Most older adults are active and involved members of their communities. A smaller
number have lost the ability to care for themselves, are confused or withdrawn,
and/or are unable to make decisions concerning their needs. Most older adults live in
noninstitutional settings. However, a smaller number have lost the ability to care for
themselves.
• Aging does not inevitably lead to disability and dependence. Most older people
remain functionally independent despite the increasing prevalence of chronic disease.
• Nursing assessment provides valuable clues to the effects of a disease or illness on
a patient’s functional status.
• When you assess older adults, you will need to identify their strengths, weaknesses,
and abilities when developing a plan of care.
• The physical and psychosocial aspects of aging are closely related. A reduced ability to
respond to stress, the experience of multiple losses, and the physical changes
associated with normal aging combine to place people at high risk for illness and
functional deterioration.
• Do not assume that all older adults have signs, symptoms, or behaviors representing
disease and decline or that these are the only factors you need to assess. You also
need to identify an older adult’s strengths and abilities during the assessment and
encourage independence as an integral part of your plan of care
,Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
Myths and Stereotypes
• When health care providers hold negative stereotypes about aging, their actions often
negatively affect the quality of patient care. Nursing care of older adults poses special
challenges because of great variation in their physiological, cognitive, and
psychosocial health.
• As nurses, you should not be susceptible to myths and stereotypes.
• Some people equate worth with productivity; therefore they think that older adults
become worthless after they leave the workforce. Others consider their knowledge
and experience too outdated to have any current value.
• Ageism typically undermines the self-confidence of older adults, limits their access to
care, and distorts caregivers’ understanding of the uniqueness of each older adult.
Always promote a positive perception regarding the aging process when you
establish therapeutic relationships and show respect to older adults.
• Older adults are a significant proportion of the consumer economy. As voters and
activists in various issues, they have a major influence in the formation of public
policy. Their participation adds a unique perspective on social, economic, and
technological issues because they have experienced almost a century of
developments.
• Even though older adults may be slower and may have troubles with vision, hearing,
and dexterity, when you plan care, you will take into account their positive attributes.
• Although reduced energy and endurance sometimes affect the process of learning,
older adults are lifelong learners.
• Older adults have been through the depression, wars, and changes in health care
throughout their lives. Living through all of these events and changes, they have
stories and examples of coping with change to share.
Nurses’ Attitudes Toward
Older Adults
• Positive attitudes are based in part on a realistic portrayal of the characteristics
and health care needs of older adults.
• It is critical for you to respect older adults and actively involve them in care
decisions and activities.
• In the past, institutional settings, such as hospitals and nursing centers, often treated
older adults as objects rather than independent, dignified people. The time has come
for nurses to recognize and address ageism by questioning prevailing negative attitudes
and stereotypes and reinforcing the realities of aging as they care for older adults in all
care settings.
Developmental Tasks
for Older Adults
• How older adults adjust to the changes of aging is highly individualized. Be sensitive to
the effect of losses on older adults and their families and be prepared to offer
,Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
support.
, Fundamentals exam 2 pp notes
• Older adults need to adjust to the physical changes that accompany aging.
• Some older adults, both men and women, find it difficult to accept aging. Acceptance of
personal aging does not mean retreat into inactivity, but it does require a realistic
review of strengths and limitations.
• Need to cope with retirement, residence change, and death of loved ones. All require
an extended period of adjustment, during which assistance and support from health
care professionals, friends, and family members are necessary. Deaths represent both
losses and reminders of personal mortality. Coming to terms with them is often
difficult. By helping older adults through the grieving process.
• A variety of issues sometimes occur, including control of decision making, dependence,
conflict, guilt, and loss. How these issues surface in situations and how they are resolved
depend in part on the past relationship between the older adult and their adult
children.
• As adult children and aging parents negotiate the aspects of changing roles, nurses
are in the position to act as counselors for the entire family. Helping older adults
maintain their quality of life is often a priority. What defines quality of life is unique
for each person.
Community-Based and
Institutional Health Care
Services
• Nurses help older adults and their families by providing information and answering
questions as they make choices among care options. Your assistance is especially
valuable when patients and families need to make decisions about moving to a
nursing center.
• Some family caregivers consider nursing center placement when in-home care
becomes increasingly difficult, or when convalescence (recovery) from hospitalization
requires more assistance than the family is able to provide. Although the decision to
enter a nursing center is never final, and a nursing center resident is sometimes
discharged to home or another less-acute facility, many older adults may view the
nursing center as their final residence.
• The best way to evaluate the quality of a nursing center in a community is for the
patient and family to visit that facility and inspect it personally.
• The Medicare website (http://www.Medicare.gov/NHcompare) is an excellent resource
for information about the quality rating of a nursing center based on health
inspections, staffing, and quality measures of the facility. It offers a checklist.
• [Review Box 14-2, Focus on Older Adults: Selection of a Nursing Center or Home,
with students.]
Assessing the Needs of Older Adults
• Obtaining a complete assessment takes time; older adults have longer life and
medical history. Allow rest periods; be sure to review prescribed and over-the-
counter medications. Take into account vision and hearing constraints.
