According to the world health organization, the size of the aging population is increasing continuously across many countries. Most of the aging people fall under the patient population category since they regularly suffer painful illness and take a lot of pain medication. Due to their age, their bodies are highly susceptible to chronic illness and put them at higher risk of falling. Falling has become a primary problem linked with older people. Apart from their age, the kinds of home environment these older people live in have been found to play a part in elderly falls (Smith et al ., 2014). Therefore the main purpose of this paper is give comprehensive evidence regarding Mr. O.P’s living condition, an interview with Mr. X, and reflection on pain and conducts a home assessment on Mr. X home environment using the Home safety Self-Assessment Tool as a guide.
Descriptive Information on Elderly Adult and Home
Mr. X is an American male who lives in the city of Omaha and he is 70 years old. He lives with his wife, who is aged 60 years. X has been working in a company within Omaha all through his life, and recently he was diagnosed with lung cancer and diabetes, and these two diseases are linked with his working environment. According to Schlanger (2016), diabetes is caused by poor eating habits while water and air pollution are termed to be the significant environmental health hazards that lead to the growth of heart and lung disease. X and his wife live in a four-story apartment where they have rented a two-bedroom house in Omaha. Since the family lives on the second floor, this presents a significant risk for falls which arises due to environmental factors. All the dwelling units in this building have been built using the same design in painting and flooring. The apartment staircase, together with his house floor, has been carpeted using tiles which are slippery and subject Mr. X to falling down mainly because he has poor mobility status.
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Interview and Reflection
When an interview was piloted on Mr. X at his home, he indicated that he frequently experiences pain, particularly after executing hard tasks such as climbing down and up the stairs and lifting a heavy load. X thinks that his pain arises due to frequent climbing the staircase and current health conditions. He also confesses that the pain he experiences has limited him from walking. Sometimes X experiences pain consecutively for three days, which lead him seeking help from the local healthcare center. He indicates that the healthcare provider prescribes some medication to relieve him from pain which includes opioid methadone and morphine. X also feels that the medication that he was prescribed previously is helping to ease the pain. Although he still believes that other reasons result in pain too, X still perceives pain as part of the aging process. He thinks that the joint and knee pain is as a result of his old age.
Even before he was diagnosed with diabetes and cancer, X used to visit healthcare facilities to seek a cure for his pain. According to the services he received, he feels that the nurses provided him with the best care that helped greatly to manage his pain. X points out that the nurse who treats him always carried out a medical follow up on his condition and the nurse used to ask how him if his pain is severe and how he is coping with condition. X states that when people age they should be prepared to bear the pain and medical providers should take the initiative of carrying out follow up calls on older people to help them manage pain and prescribe medication depending on the level of pain.
Method of Accessing Pain
Mr. X is an exceptional man who recognizes the problems that come with old age. X is not worried about the pain he experiences since he attributes it to old age, and it is part of life. Unlike other people who link pain with other illness. When treating pain, the healthcare provider to recognize how pain impacts patient wellbeing and the patient level of pain before deciding the kind of treatment to execute (Lunsford & Wilson, 2015).
Clinical assessment and self-reporting are some of the approaches used to assess the level of pain experienced by older people. Self-reporting is an accurate and widely used method to assess pain. A pain measuring scale is used to indicate the level of pain, while clinical assessment is carried out by medical professionals to estimate the degree of pain. A good example is when a patient visits the hospital frequently due to pain problem this is a good indication that this patient experiences severe pain, which demands immediate medical treatment.
Barriers to Pain Assessment and Management
A number of factors that prevent the realization of accurate pain assessment result using self-reporting method include cognitive, misconception, and barrier to communication. Communication is a barrier that linked to self-reporting and mostly, affects patients with cognitive impairment or dementia. People who do not speak English cannot express how painful is their condition and therefore acts as a barrier in assessing pain using this approach. Cognitive barriers, people with mental problems are unable to make a solid judgment, and consequently, they tend to give inconsistent pain reports. Misconception, older people tend to link pain to old age without taking into consideration that other problems might cause pain. Just like X stated that his pain is due to his old age (Wells et al. , 2008).
EBP Intervention Strategies
Healthcare providers have invented various strategies to help older people to manage their pain through evidence-based practice. Balanced analgesia is one of the EBP interventions which are grouped into three that is Opioids, non-opioids, and adjuvant analgesics. The following three drugs have been identified to be the key EBP intervention severe, mild, and intermediate pain. Massage is another EBP intervention used to ease the pain. Massage works through relaxing body tissues, either mechanically or manually with the motive of improving blood circulation and enhance sleep. For aging people, pain is linked with sleep deprivation. Massage helps to relieve some problem associated with pain such as tension, stress, anxiety, and depression which impact pain management. Lastly, cold and hot therapy involves the use of ice or heat to reduce pain and promote comfort but mainly is implemented by a qualified physician (Lunsford & Wilson, 2015).
Home Assessment Using the Home Safety Self-Assessment Tool
Home Assessment of Intrinsic Risk and Interventions
Some of the intrinsic risks linked to Mr. X from the assessment include impaired vision, depression management, availability of chronic disease, reduced mobility, poor balance due to pain. X had walking problems which are associated with joint and muscle pain which has limited him from carrying out his daily activities. Impaired vision is another likely cause of his falls.
In order to solve the above intrinsic risks, the mentioned interventions are endorsed. First Mr. X should be recommended to wear lenses due to his deprived vision problem, to improve his vision it appropriate for him to use lenses (Wells et al ., 2008). He should use a walking stick to support him when walking and reduce the risk of fall. Lastly is to treat his chronic disease use drugs that have minimal side effects.
Home Assessment for Environment and Interventions
Some of the environmental issues that subject Mr. X to the risk of falling include slippery staircase, carpeting, and wet floor. Environment factors have become a significant player that predisposes an elderly patient to the risk of falling. Some of the interventions towards these environmental factors include put signs that caution people the floor is wet, use of mat and woolen carpet in the house to prevent X from getting into contact with the slippery floor.
Conclusion
Pain and falling are risks that are encountered by aging people due to their poor health conditions. It is essential to help aging people manage pain so that they can perform their daily activities typically. The above discussion gives an outline of the problems that aging people encounter, especially pain and how to control and the environmental factor which contributes to falling.
References
Lunsford, B. & Wilson, D.L. (2015). Assessing your patients’ risk for falling. American Nurse Today. 10(7). Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://www.americannursetoday.com/assessing-patients-risk-falling/
Smith, A. D. A., Silva, A. O., Rodrigues, R. A. P., Moreira, M. A. S. P., Nogueira, J. D. A., & Tura, L. F. R. (2017). Assessment of risk of falls in elderly living at home. Revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 25.
Wells, N., Pasero, C., & McCaffery, M. (2008). Improving the quality of care through pain assessment and management.
Schlanger, Z. (2016). Choking to death in Detroit: Flint isn’t Michigan’s only disaster. Newsweek. Retrieved January 23, 2018, from http://www.newsweek.com/2016/04/08/michigan-air-pollution-poison-southwest-Detroit-441914.html
