Geriatric Assessment

6. Loss of subcutaneous tissue can reduce the ability of older adults to regulate body temperature, leading to

Today I spoke with a very outspoken neighbor of mine who was kind enough to participate in my assessment project. Iris L. is her name and she was born in March of 1940, which makes her 76 years old. She has lived in the small town of Archer Lodge, NC since she was born. She has been widowed for over 35 years and has one son who also lives five minutes away. She remains very active within the community but spends a majority of her time with her two grandchildren, ages 9 and 11. She has three sisters who all live within a few minutes of her home. She is active in her church and has lots of community friends that she assist in taking to appointments and says she also enjoys “feeding the shut-ins”. She is retired from a manufacturing job of 35 years but returned to work part-time at Dollar General approximately 8 years ago. She told me “if you don’t keep busy and active, you will go downhill quickly when you retire”.

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

Roseann. I enjoyed reading your post. Nurses should perform a comprehensive assessment when caring for elderly patients to detect geriatric syndromes. Confusion, dizziness, urinary incontinence, falls, pressure ulcer, and sleep difficulties are classified geriatric syndromes that need special attention. Elderly patients who have acute confusion, weakness, and urinary incontinence should be ruled out for urinary tract infection. I agree diagnostic work-up, vital signs, and thorough head-to-toe assessments are important to evaluate the patient for the underlying cause of the geriatric syndromes. Early identification of the signs and symptoms could prevent complications, decreased mortality, and shorter hospital stay. Using an appropriate assessment

Trauma one Pediatric Emergency Department! Trauma one Pediatric Emergency Department responding over! Rescue Unit 29 transporting a 12 year-old boy, named Mike, hit by a car while riding his bicycle. This is a hit and run accident, but other motorists called a rescue unit. The child was not wearing a helmet. Facial bleeding is under control, but he suffered facial and head trauma. There appeared to be no facture of the extremities. Presently he is awake and semi-alert. Vitals signs: BP 120/56, Pulse 120, Oxygen

Middle-aged adults begin to show visible signs of aging. Vision usually changes and many who did not need corrective lenses or eyeglasses may find that they need them. Hearing loss begins, especially at the higher frequencies. Height begins with the maximum height from young adulthood but then begins to diminish. This process is more rapid in women who have osteoporosis. Changes occur in the nervous system and reaction time slows. The ability to perform complex tasks remains intact. Those in middle age usually begin to gain weight, 5–10 kg (10–20 lb) and experience a decline in strength and flexibility. Women in late middle age experience menopause. Menopause can have many side effects, some welcome and some not so welcome.[2] Menopause ends

The humanity of aging is a concept sometimes hard to grasp. Understanding why we are

Ed is 77-year-old White heterosexual man who is in good health and lives in the Niles area of Fremont, California with his wife, Laura, and eldest son Michael. Ed strongly identifies as Irish-Catholic and he and Laura raised their family in an Irish-Catholic household. I selected Ed as my interviewee because he lives in my neighborhood and is good friends with my neighbor’s father. The two degrees of separation between us are gender, ethnicity/cultural identity, as well as socioeconomic status (he is an upper middle class retiree).

In this paper I am going to discuss the second interview I had with JP. The interview included a geriatric depression scale, geriatric pain assessment, and an assessment of the environment and advanced directives. I will also discuss a teaching topic with a list of interventions for JP.

I would like to become a geriatric or family doctor so that I will be able to both heal and form real connections with the patients I am treating. To prepare myself for a career in medicine, over the past four years, I have volunteered over four hundred hours at Southern Tennessee Regional Health Systems Pulaski (STRHS) helping and observing in many different areas including the surgery, emergency room, and geriatric psychiatric departments. While volunteering in the geriatric ward at STRHS I discovered my adoration of working with elderly patients and my passion for curing Alzheimer’s disease. This prompted me to attend Vanderbilt Summer Academy classes on Alzheimer's treatment and research this past summer.

Gerontology is a multidisciplinary field because it is made up of a diverse group of professionals from many areas of study. An example of this would be as follows: An elderly man has been noticing that his wife is showing some early signs of what he thinks is Alzheimer's Disease and makes an appointment to see a Geriatrician. While visiting the geriatrician, the husband's assumptions are proven correct and the suggestion is made that since he is unable to provide full care for her he should move her to a local memory care assisted living facility. When he goes to take a tour of the facility, he meets a social worker that works in the facility. As he finishes the tour, he sees a physcal therapist doing work with one of the other residents.

What evidence must be gathered? (Identifies and documents four sources of evidence. Describes rationale for all checked types of evidence)

Purpose: Comprehensive Geriatric assessment (CGA) provides in-depth evaluation of morbidity and mortality of geriatric patients and can be an effective tool in assessment of pre-transplant patients. A CGA requires hours to administer, additional time and personnel to obtain results, consultation with a geriatrician and multiple visits for result discussion and intervention. An electronic geriatric assessment (eGA) can offer a more complete and accurate assessment of deficits in a time efficient manner. We assess feasibility of incorporation of an electronic GA with real-time instrument scoring into cancer clinic.

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.

The process of aging is distinct to every person and can be seen as a culmination of genetics, dietary/lifestyle choices, and environmental exposures. Therefore, medical care must be tailored to every individual’s multidimensional health status is required to ensure proper assessment, diagnoses, and treatment of our aging population (16). Our current medical system relies heavily on protocol-based care that has been molded through studies and research to treat the general population. When taking into account the complexity of elderly patients this approach may be inadequate (Ham).