Nursing Discussion Questions

Nursing Discussion Questions
Older adults are most times reported to be found in special care units and primary care units and this has become increasingly true with the age wave of the present. There is also increased differentiation with the increase in age; that is the older individuals grow, the more differentiated they become in relation to biological functions (Touhy, 2012). A particular group of older adults report proper cognitive function and therefore do not require physical examination compared to a different group of older adults who have increased likelihood of accumulating chronic conditions. Therefore, knowledge of the complexities brought about by old age is relevant to distinguish acute and insidious changes. Fundamental to the care of older adults, knowledge on physiologic aging is the ability to differentiate between aging that is normal and one that is abnormal.

Topic one
During examination, physical investigation of the patient’s physiology is important. A profession will first look at the outside organs of the patient and determine whether the process of aging is normal or abnormal. Obtain general information such as change in eye color, conditions of the patient’s clothing, interaction with the doctor and ultimately reaction to the environment (Touhy, 2012). In normal aging, the skin forms several layers of wrinkles, patients are usually uncomfortable with their environments, the pupils normally get smaller, the skin color tends to be pale, and the ear drum becomes impaired as the patient can only listen to non-disturbing sounds. To perform further examinations on the patient to distinguish between normal and abnormal aging can be done from special considerations such as looking at the medical history of older adults and the probability of developing diseases during old age, investigating the tone in which the adult uses, observing their patterns of nutrition and above all conduct functional screening to prove whether older patients develop abnormal diseases that hide behind aging. When performing observation, clinicians should be able to involve family and friends during care for older adults in order to sample all other resourceful information from third parties (Touhy, 2012). The most critical issue in older adults is the ability to maintain function and therefore as a clinician physiological functions and activities should be noted even before information is gotten from third party. Sudden changes during investigation should increase clinicians’ worry and call for prompt investigation.

Topic Two

A new patient brought to the primary care unit is a 80 year old man who has exhibited a lot of physical changes though from the physical outlooks is considered to have aged normally. The skin has become thinner, looser and less elastic which almost pale looking nails, the distribution of hair on the scalp is irregular, changes on the body and face can be notices. The patient reports teary eyes and also reports not to have any problems with vision though cannot see very far objects. The hearing I suppose is affected by gradual loss of the hearing sense which is normal, shortness of breath is reported, evident weight loss and shrinking of the body is also seen and third party information complains about loss of appetite. The process of care planning should further include more diagnosis of psychological and motor function and analysis of other translated problems. The process of further investigation is necessary in order to determine other hidden complexities in the patient (Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing 2012). However, treatment plans should include improved focus on nutritional status of the patient because nutrition and feeding the body is the core of every treatment plan. Bodily functions become interfered with if nutritional plans are interfered with.