WEEK 2 JOURNAL ENTRY
Age-related Changes in Geriatric Care
The care provision for geriatric patients demands a proper understanding of the age-related changes that older adults face. As an advanced practice nurse, it is essential to understand the age-related changes among the elderly to create a difference between the normal changes and abnormal changes. During my practicum, I look forward to understanding the age-related changes as the understanding is essential in the assessment of the elderly individuals.
Normal and Abnormal Age-related Changes
One of the organs that are affected as individuals age is the eye. The normal age-related changes that are experienced in the eye include loss of peripheral vision, depth perception, and distance (Geerligset al., 2015). Additionally, an individual experiences flexibility in the eye lenses and the loss of muscle strength. Symptoms such as cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy are some of the abnormal changes in the eye.
The age-related changes equally affect an elderly individual’s sense of touch taste and smell. A decrease in the sensitivity of heat and pain is an example of a normal age-related change. A decreased sense of smell and taste is equally a normal age-related change. However, a loss of sensation of touch, smell, and taste due to stroke or other neurological problems is deemed as an abnormal change.
Age-related changes equally take place in an individual’s kidney. A decrease in the size of the kidney is deemed as a normal age-related change among the elderly. However, conditions such as renal failure and urinary inconsistence are deemed abnormal changes. Moreover, the skeletal system is equally associated with changes an individual ages (Geerligset al., 2015). In normal cases, the discs often become thinner and the associated muscles become weaker thus contributing to the loss of weight. Conditions such as osteoporosis, injuries due to falls, and arthritis only depict abnormal changes in the skeletal system.
Additionally, I have learned that age-related changes equally take place in the respiratory system. A decrease in lung capacity and a decreased amount of cilia is a normal age-related change among the elderly. However, conditions such as asthma, lung cancer, COPD, and emphysema are abnormal changes that affect the respiratory system (Geerligset al., 2015). For the central nervous system, an elderly individual may experience changes such as a decrease in the ability to thermos-regulate, memory losses, a decrease in processing speed as well as brain shrink. The changes are deemed as normal (Geerligset al., 2015). Conditions such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, infections, and stroke are among the abnormal age-related changes in the central nervous system.
I have noticed that the changes that are regarded as normal are associated with a decrease in the functionality of a body system. The abnormal changes on the other hand are associated with old age conditions that affect the body system (Mohileet al., 2015). As such, it is essential to determine the difference between normal age-related changes from an abnormal age-related change. Assessment tools such as the Katz scale of activities of daily living can, for example, be used to draw a line between the normal-age related changes from the abnormal age-related changes. The scale tests on the independence of the patient in carrying out activities of daily living (Arik et al., 2015). A patient who needs help as a result of a condition or an injury has an abnormal age-related change. The same criteria can be used when assessing the patients’ dependence on instrumental activities of daily living using the Lawton IADL scale.
References
Geerligs, L., Renken, R. J., Saliasi, E., Maurits, N. M., & Lorist, M. M. (2015). A brain-wide study of age-related changes in functional connectivity. Cerebral cortex, 25(7), 1987-1999.
Mohile, S. G., Velarde, C., Hurria, A., Magnuson, A., Lowenstein, L., Pandya, C., … & Dale, W. (2015). Geriatric assessment-guided care processes for older adults: a Delphi consensus of geriatric oncology experts. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 13(9), 1120-1130.
Arik, G., Varan, H. D., Yavuz, B. B., Karabulut, E., Kara, O., Kilic, M. K., … & Halil, M. (2015). Validation of Katz index of independence in activities of daily living in Turkish older adults. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 61(3), 344-350.