At different stages in life, people tend to have different health issues and sometime demand for specialized care. Among the stages that such issues occur is the elderly stage in life. During this time the body is weak and the immunity tend to be quite low, thus people get vulnerable to different ailments. Geriatric is health complication that is associated with old people. This essay describes how a nurse can comprehensively undertake a health assessment for a geriatric patient and consideration to bear in mind when performing such tasks.
Elements of a Comprehensive Health Assessment of a Geriatric Patient
Health assessment for older people mainly comprises of examining the bodies functioning ability, mental status, cognitive heath and the physical health. It is usually done when a doctor identifies a particular health complication like fainting, falling, or immobility. During this assessment, it is important to check on the nutrition, hearing, vision, balance , stool and urine tests. The assessment is very extensive and not one sided, it have to look at all social and physiological aspect that an old person may be going through.This may include assessing the patient’s ability to perform daily tasks like eating dressing, bathing, walking, and even controlling the bladder (Chow 2012). It is advisable not to use the problem directed approach but rather apply the comprehensive style looking at all the issues that old people might experience or be prone to.
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Consideration for a nurse to bear when performing assessment
Handling geriatric patients requires some prior experience and some high level of care and some adequate training. This task might be quite challenging to inexperienced health personnel. You need to put in to consideration the functional ability of the patient like body movement and ability to perform ordinary tasks with ease. The nurse should also consider the nutrition and hydration of the patient. Some patients also find it hard to express themselves due to cognitive and mental health problems (Townsend 2014).
References
Chow, W. B., Rosenthal, R. A., Merkow, R. P., Ko, C. Y., &Esnaola, N. F. (2012). Optimal preoperative assessment of the geriatric surgical patient: a best practices guideline from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and the American Geriatrics Society . Chicago: Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Townsend, M. C. (2014). Psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care in evidence-based practice . Philadelphia: FA Davis.
