Caring For Geriatric Patients: Understanding Social, Emotional, And Physiological Needs

Geriatrics are posed with a variety of conditions that are predisposed to them due to their weak immune systems. They are also at a high risk of getting frailty in the course of their living due to the low estrogen level in their bones. Therefore, there is a need for family members together with the society to be apt in taking care of them at all levels to help them navigate through life easily. In the course of their ageing life, geriatrics are usually faced with social, emotional, and physiological changes which eventually alter their normal lifestyle (Harvey & Fox, 2018). In the event of being in compromised with the activities of daily living, there is s need for nursing interventions that need to be put in place by the health care team to help them in effective delivery of their daily responsibilities.

In the case study Mrs. Price who is 84 years old, is suffering from frailty which makes her unable to carry out her normal activities due to the weakness she experiences. While moving around her house, Mrs. Price is unable to sustain too much tension and pressure on her joints due to the arthritis diagnosis. Arthritis is a condition in which the joints are inflamed and stiff thus causing pain and inability to walk or perform any activity. Also, a person usually experiences limited range of motion due to the excruciating pain experienced on the joints of the body. Therefore, treatment modalities such as physiotherapy, medications, and hydrotherapy sessions can be effected to help reduce the complications which might suffice when a person experiences the extreme effects of the condition (Häger, et al., 2019). Therefore, this paper will majorly focus on the needs of an adult experiencing changes in health in areas dealing with social, emotional, and physiological well-being both long and short-term aspects. Later on, a nursing intervention will be formulated which will help meet the family needs of the presented patient.

In the aging process, adults usually face social changes based on the previous patterns during their early life. Therefore, how one interacts with the changes that occurs in their social life depends largely on the amount of effort put in place to make them feel secure and loved. At some point in their life, geriatrics are usually faced with withdrawal effects from the previously formed relationships due to the separation they experience from the death of their loved ones (Exton-Smith & Overstall, 2019). Therefore, in this case, most of them usually prefer taking off from their family members to mourn and grieve due to the denial stage throughout the loss of their loved ones. Geriatric Patients And Their Weak Immune Systems Essay Paper

In this case, there is need for the family members to be present at all times to give them company, and encourage them to refrain from themselves away from crowds. Also, changes that take place in the physical appearance of these individuals make them withdraw from the have a negative attitude when interacting with other people in the society due to the low self-esteem they face. For instance, in the case study, Mrs. Price is unable to walk in a large group of people because of her frail condition. This made her stay in one place for a long time since she did not want to be seen as a burden to her friends and family members. Due to the perspective changes in their body image, most geriatrics delve into depression making them isolate themselves from the crowd. Depression may be caused due to the constant care they need to get from their family members which at times might seem tiring thus they prefer secluding themselves thus develop depression in the long run.

Social, Emotional, And Physiological Changes During Aging

Due to the changes that occur in aging geriatric patients are often faced with mixed reactions on their general outlook. This makes most of them feel depressed and may develop a mental compromise. Additionally, these older adults feel helpless and useless since they presume most of their physical needs are to be met constantly with those who are in their vicinity. By doing so, most of them delve into negative feelings and develop depressive illnesses in the long run. Most of these older adults are faced with difficulties in inductive reasoning and thus have slow processes in their decision-making process. Understanding the emotional and cognitive changes that occur during aging can help health care workers organize proper interventions to meet the needs of both geriatric patients and their family members. According to, having a positive social network can largely help in developing an adult’s emotional and social interaction. Therefore, for Mrs. Price to be in a better position of maintaining her social and emotional status, her husband together with the other family members need to be apt in engaging her in the daily activities which can help her feel loved and appreciated. Relocating downstairs to be with his wife made Mrs. Price feel accepted and loved. Therefore, this motivated her to remain strong despite her condition.

Arthritis comes with a variety of complications such as osteoporosis, infections, and inflammation. When these complications set in, an individual is unable to perform normal activities of daily living due to the pain and compromise caused at the joints of the body. Therefore, there is a need for the health care providers together with the family members to be on the lookout for any changes that might be seen in these older adults (Prothero, et al., 2018). In the case of body compromise, geriatric patients are usually forced to dig deep into their pockets to help effective maintenance of their health. In some cases, when intensive procedures are initiated in these patients, there is usually an increased risk of developing more infections. Therefore, before initiating any procedure, there is a need for conducting further consultation to help reduce complications that might occur in the long run.

These physiological changes that occur in aging can be minimized and prevented by ensuring these patients are taken through the right exercises and diet which are effective in reducing any occurrence of physiological changes caused by poor health. Mrs. Price in the case study is falls over in the kitchen sustaining a right Colles fracture. This causes an immediate admission to the nearby hospital due to the gravity of the nature of her condition. This is enough evidence of how arthritis and frailty cause one to have a difficult time in normal moves around. In this case, to reduce long-term complications among these older patients, health care workers need to be frequent in assessing this group at all times since they are at a high risk of developing minor complications which can escalate at a slower pace to more serious complications (Prothero, et al., 2018). The family members need to be educated on some of the protective measures which can be put in place to help this group from developing any unseen complications. Also, the health care providers need to be apt when caring for these patients by constantly ensuring a thorough examination is performed on them during each hospital visit to help in early action and treatment of any ailment.

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Recommendations For Nursing Interventions

Families having older patients need to be always ready to engage and help these patients at all times. Due to their quick aging process, most of these geriatric patients are usually faced with mixed feelings about how they are viewed in society. This makes them develop negative feelings and emotions thus derailing their cognitive and emotional states while interacting with those around them (Harvey & Fox, 2018). Having a functional support system can help them feel accepted and appreciated in the family. However, when these patients are not given the required care while with their family members, they might withdraw from performing the normal family activities thus reducing their productivity in society. It is, therefore, needful for the family members to form engaging activities which can help the geriatric patients feel in place. Offering activities such as family get-togethers through major family functions can help the older patients feel loved through the interactions they make with the other family members. Constantly checking the geriatric patients and providing the necessary therapy sessions is also part of making sure they are fully cared for in the family.

Family members can also help these patients by offering them psychosocial support when they feel at their lowest point. Giving them a hand when they are unable to perform the normal activities of daily living can help them feel in place and appreciated. Helping them move around using walking aids can also help reduce unnecessary accidents which might occur while moving around the house. Family members need to be conversant with the health precautions given to geriatric patients at all times to help them keep their health fit and safe at all times. The health care team needs to give the family members psychological support especially to the geriatric patients who have chronic conditions. Health education on how to care for these patients can be made to the family members especially when it comes to end-of life care. Additionally, the family members need to be educated on some of the conditions which come with aging and some of the measures they need to take to help their patients from developing complications.

The geriatric patients can be taken to a geriatric care nursing homes where they can receive constant care when they are not in a position of providing self-care to themselves. The health care providers can work out this by identifying the needs of the elderly patients and ensuring they get effective care once in the nursing homes. Frequent check-ups need to be done in these homes to ensure there is no form of neglect among these patients. Whenever a patient sustains a chronic condition, there is need for the health care providers to offer adequate psychological and emotional care to help them take part in the care process while in the health care setting. Also, while offering care to these patients, health care providers need to be mindful of the approach they take while addressing their needs since not all of them are at the same level of taking in information. To castigate the fear of interaction which comes with aging, the older patients need to be taken through what goes during the geriatric stage of their life for them to have an easier time in navigating through the old age conditions that might surface. Accepting their condition through constant assurance can help them accept their future outcomes in advance.

Importance Of Exercise And Diet In Preventing Physiological Changes

During assessment, the nurse is keen to note some of the presenting signs and symptoms of the patient in their first contact at the health center. In assessment, there is need to look at the subjective data which is entails the personal information revealed by the patient while giving out complains concerning the presenting illness. Also, objective data needs to be collected where the nurse takes into account the laboratory examination and notes symptoms from the patients which cannot be explained. By careful assessment of the patient’s presenting symptoms, the nurse can thereafter present a detailed nursing diagnosis which can help in careful development of interventions which are relevant to the patient at a specific period of time.

During her admission, the nurse will quickly assess the presenting signs of arthritis. Through collection of this information, the nurse will be keen in developing a therapeutic relationship with the patient to help gain most information from the presented case. This will also help in careful diagnosis of the presented symptoms. The previous medical history will be assessed taking keen consideration on the recent medication taken by the patient while at home. Before the occurrence of the accident, the nurse will gather information on the predisposing factors to the fall experienced while in the kitchen to better understand the pathological cause of the fall.

Later on, the nurse will assess the level of frailty of the patient using the appropriate scale which can be used in carefully assessing the weakness level of the patient.

In planning, the needs of Mrs. Price will be identified and calculated for a specified time where they can be well achieved. In planning, the nurse gets to understand the needs of the patient through the assessment data.

After planning has been done on how the patients’ needs can be achieved, the nurse can go ahead and set up interventions which can help the patient in effective navigation through their daily activities. These activities performed by the nurse are relevant in helping the nurse understand the progress of the patient at a greater length during the course of the caring process. The interventions can either be psychological, familial or physical (Brady, et al., 2019). As per the nursing protocols, all the interventions given to patients need to be accompanied with an appropriate scientific rationale to help in effective justification of the implemented nursing procedure.

In this case, Mrs. Price pain can be managed through administration of non-steroidal analgesics which can help in the reduction of the inflammation experienced on the joints thus decreasing the pain experienced when the patient developed Colles fracture. Offering adequate rest periods for Mrs. Price while in the hospital can help minimize excessive movements which can aggravate the pain experienced on the broken hand. Also offering diets with less acidic content in them, such as vegetables and meat (Häger, et al., 2019).

While in hospital, the nurse can help Mrs. Price carry out her normal ADLs’ such as helping in daily bathing, brushing teeth and eating. By doing so, the tension exerted on the patients’ fractured arm will be minimized.

Helping Mrs. Price perform passive range of motion on the affected hand can help the patient in minimizing formation of contractures during the healing process. Thereafter, when the patient is limited in moving her entire body, a physiotherapist can come in handy to help her in strengthening her muscles and bones by carefully manipulating her movements (Exton-Smith, & Overstall, 2019) During the process of performing the physiotherapy on the patient, the nurse should be careful not to cause any tension on the patient which might cause excessive damage to the already fractured arm.

While in their house, Mr. and Mrs. Price can minimize falls and accidents while moving around by ensuring there are no obstacles on the way. This can help eliminate any uneventful occurrences such as developing fractures (Castle, 2018). The couples can also create space in their house where they can easily do daily exercises which can help in maintaining their strength. Their family members can be educated on the importance of monitoring their elderly family members to help in alleviating any complications which might arise in the course of their illnesses.

Health education needs to be done to the family members to help them understand the needs of the patient at all times. Providing care to the elderly patient while assessing their needs prior to the occurrence of the geriatric complications can help in assimilating effective care modalities to help in the reduction of unnecessary falls (Dixon et al, 2017). In the case of Mrs. Price and Mr. Price, the family members need to be educated on the complications which comes when a person sustains arthritis and the interventions which need to be enforced to help reduce the extreme cases of the disease.

In evaluation, nurses need to confirm whether the implemented interventions were achieved as per the planned goals. By doing so, the health care providers together with the family members can be in a position of assessing whether further interventions need to be put in place to help their patient or not. Evaluation helps in understanding the magnitude of the nursing interventions performed on the patient after a specified period. In assessing the reliability of the interventions, nurses are in a better position of planning out new methods which can be used to better the health of their patients.

Conclusion

In managing geriatric patients, nurses need to be competent enough in understanding the presenting needs of each patient to help in effective assimilation of the diverse nature of each individual. Families need to understand the conditions of their geriatric patients to help in reducing any occurrence of complications associated with aging. Geriatrics are posed with a variety of conditions that are predisposed to them due to their weak immune systems. They are also at a high risk of getting frailty in the course of their living due to the low estrogen level in their bones. Therefore, there is a need for family members together with the society to be apt in taking care of them at all levels to help them navigate through life.    

References

Brady, T.J., Kruger, J., Helmick, C.G., Callahan, L.F. and Boutaugh, M.L., 2019. Intervention programs for arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. Health Education & Behavior, 30(1), pp.44-63.

Castle, N.G., 2018. Relocation of the elderly. Medical care research and review, 58(3), pp.291-333.

Dixon, K.E., Keefe, F.J., Scipio, C.D., Perri, L.M. and Abernethy, A.P., 2017. Psychological interventions for arthritis pain management in adults: a meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 26(3), p.241.

Exton-Smith, A.N. and Overstall, P., 2019. Geriatrics (Vol. 1). Springer Science & Business Media.

Häger, J., Bang, H., Hagen, M., Frech, M., Träger, P., Sokolova, M.V., Steffen, U., Tascilar, K., Sarter, K., Schett, G. and Rech, J., 2019. The role of dietary fiber in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a feasibility study. Nutrients, 11(10), p.2392.  Geriatric Patients And Their Weak Immune Systems Essay Paper