The elderly grapple with unique health challenges. Unfortunately, it appears that healthcare professionals are not adequately prepared to address these challenges. It is therefore necessary for institutions such as hospitals and schools to invest in the training and education of these professionals. The purpose of the training should be to expose the practitioners to the hardships that afflict older adults and introduce the practitioners to the effective interventions that they can implement. The Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing is among the bodies which are working tirelessly to provide nursing professionals with the information that they need to better understand a variety of issues concerning the health of older adults.
Among the issues that the Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing addresses on its website include the general changes in aging. According to this organization, aging sets the stage for a number of biological transformations that nurses should seek to understand. For example, aging leads to changes in such systems as the cardiovascular, pulmonary and immune (“Age Related Changes”, 2012). It is important for nurses to learn about these issues so as to be able to identify the changes and implement appropriate interventions. For example, declines in the cognitive functioning of older adults are among the changes. When a nurse possesses the skill to identify these declines, they are able to spot symptoms and take necessary action. Some of the specific topics that should be included in the curriculum on the general changes in aging are the main systems that undergo changing, the symptoms that accompany the changes, the impacts of the changes, and the interventions that nurses can adopt to limit the adverse impacts of the changes. Apart from the website of the Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing, there are other websites which provide vital information on these changes. For example, the World Health Organization (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health), the National Institutes of Health (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1273316/), and the American Psychological Association (https://www.apa.org/pi/aging/resources/guides/older) are among the websites.
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Immunization for older adults is another topic addressed by the Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing. This organization provides information on such issues as the specific vaccines that older adults should be provided with and the benefits that these vaccines deliver (Taub, 2018). When delivering education on the immunization of elderly adults, some of the topics that should be included are the hazards associated with immunization, how to tackle opposition to immunization and mobilizing communities to support immunization of older adults. It is important for nurses to be trained on this issue because the education prepares the nurses to protect older adults against diseases that can be prevented through immunization. Among the websites that shed further light on immunizing older adults include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/rec-vac/index.html) and the Health in Aging Foundation (https://www.healthinaging.org/tools-and-tips/essential-vaccination-information-older-adults).
References
Age related changes. (2012). The Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing. Retrieved September 6, 2019 from https://consultgeri.org/geriatric-topics/age-related-changes
Taub, L. (2018). Immunizations for older adults. The Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing. Retrieved September 6, 2019 from https://consultgeri.org/try-this/general-assessment/issue-21
