Mr. Smith, age 77, reports for an annual physical examination.

Geriatric Patients Case Assignment

Week 2 discussion Assessment Tools As geriatric patients age, their health and functional stability may decline resulting in the inability to perform basic activities of daily living. In your role as the advanced practice nurse, you must assess whether the needs of these aging patients are being met. Comprehensive geriatric assessments are used to determine whether these patients have developed or are at risk of developing age-related changes that interfere with their functional status. Since the health status and living situation of geriatric patients often differ, there are a variety of assessment tools that can be used to evaluate wellness and functional ability. For this Discussion, consider which assessment tools would be appropriate for the patients in the following three case studies: Case Study 1: Mr. Smith, age 77, reports for an annual physical examination. He says he is doing well. His only known problem is osteoarthritis. He also requests a flu shot. He takes no medications other than Tylenol for arthritis pain. When he walks into the exam room, you notice that he is using a straight cane in his right hand. When you ask about the cane, he says he began using the cane because the pain in his right hip had increased significantly over the past 6 months. Case Study 2: Mr. Jones, a 68-year-old man, was referred to your office for a hearing evaluation. He continues to work in a printing company, although he works only part-time. He has worked at the printing company for the past 35 years. He complains that he cannot hear much of the dialogue on the television. He is accompanied by his wife, who states that her husband cannot hear her at home. He has no history of dizziness, tinnitus, or vertigo. He has had cerumen impactions removed from both ears in the past. Overall, his medical history is quite benign. His only medications are aspirin 81 mg daily, a multivitamin daily, and occasional ibuprofen for back pain. Case Study 3: Mrs. Roberts, an 83-year-old widow, is brought to the office by her daughter. The daughter claims that her mother seems to be depressed. There is a history of depression approximately five years ago, shortly after Mrs. Roberts’ husband died. At that time, she was successfully treated with antidepressants. Currently, the daughter states that her mother’s memory for appointments and events has declined severely, and she can no longer drive because she does not remember the route to the store or other familiar places. The daughter also noted that her mother’s house seemed very disorganized and dirty, there was a limited amount of food in the kitchen, and the checkbook had not been balanced for several months. Mrs. Roberts appears slightly disheveled, she has a flat affect, and she does not maintain eye contact during your interview. To prepare: Review the Rosen and Reuben article in this week’s Learning Resources. Consider how assessment tools are used to evaluate patients. Select one of the three case studies. Based on the provided information, think about a possible patient evaluation plan. As part of your evaluation planning, consider where the evaluation would take place, whether any other professionals or family members should be present, appropriate assessment tools and guidelines, and any other relevant information you may wish to address. Consider whether the assessment tool you identified was validated for use with this specific patient population and if this poses issues. Think about additional factors that might present issues when performing assessments, such as language, education, prosthetics, missing limbs, etc. Post on or before Day 3 an explanation of your evaluation plan for the patient in the case study you selected and explain which type of assessment tool you might use for the patient. Explain whether the assessment tool was validated for use with this patient’s specific patient population and whether this poses issues. Include additional factors that might present issues when performing assessments, such as language, education, prosthetics, missing limbs, etc. Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses. Respond on or before Day 6 to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one or more of the ways listed below. Respond to colleagues who selected different case studies than you did. Suggest alternative assessment tools and explain why these tools might be appropriate for your colleagues’ patients. Recommend strategies for mitigating issues related to use of the assessment tools your colleagues discussed. Click on the Reply button below to reveal the textbox for entering your message. Then click on the Submit button to post your message.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.