Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

Nowadays, nursing science is a rapidly developing area, and its achievements touch upon numerous aspects from specific medical issues to everyday life. As the term implies, nursing science is the type of science that integrates theory, actual nursing practice, and research. Just like any field, it is characterized by a set of the most urgent challenges. One of the most important spheres to which nursing science draws attention is elderly care. In this paper, the social background of this tendency, the key problems connected with senior adults’ health, possible solutions and innovations introduced by the health care providers at the moment, and future implications are examined.Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

Social Stratification of the Modern Society

The recent times are notable for far-reaching changes in terms of the social structure. The positive innovations in preventive medicine, disease control, and better nutrition have led to the life expectancy increase. It means that an average person is expected to live longer now than an individual of the previous epochs. An American born in 2012 is expected to live 78.9 – throughout the country’s history; this index is unprecedented (Haber 12).

As a result, the population is gradually growing older. About 14.5% of all people in the USA (46.2 million persons) are the elderly, i.e.; they are 65 and older (Haber 15). Consequently, the task of primary importance is to meet the expectations of the elderly population and find resources to support them.Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

Although the number of senior adults is increasing, the society continues to label age as something unwanted. One wishes to be young forever and feels uncomfortable if they are reminded of their status. The modern mass media encourage this attitude and fail to represent the elderly without any bias. At the same time, nursing science identifies geriatric or elderly people as the top priority. Thus, there is a world of difference between social attitude and the scientific point of view.

Main Problems Associated with Nursing Care for the Elderly

Taking into account the facts mentioned above, one can understand that elderly people’s problems are to be a significant characteristic of the future life. Obviously, nursing science and health care services need to address this challenge. In this respect, it is possible to single out three main areas in terms of which society and geriatrics are likely to develop: treatment, prevention, and ethics.Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

Nursing science is, by definition, to explore the mechanisms of contraction of diseases and different types of treatment. Currently, more and more researchers decide to concentrate on elderly patients and the progression of their diseases. The fundamental principle of these medical studies is that an elderly person needs specific care different from that of the middle-aged population, and the large body of literature is based on it. One of the most pressing problems is multimorbidity, when at least two chronic conditions occur at the same time (Whitson 1668). It is a widespread phenomenon, and nursing science is seeking appropriate solutions.

Another aspect of nursing pertains to preventive measures that sometimes are even more important in the elderly population than treatment because of the nature of the disorder or tendency. Frailty in senior adults illustrates this peculiarity: changes in the musculoskeletal system of an elderly person result in higher risks of slip and fall accidents. Consequently, it is vital to avoid possible dangers, such as steep stairs, rugs, slippery floorings, and so on.Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

Nursing science draws attention to specific preventive programs intended to reduce risks and educate patients and their families. Under preventive services adaptation, testing and diagnosing are supposed to help maintain good health and reveal a disease that has not caused any visual symptoms yet. However, there is the other side of the coin, the so-called lag time to benefit: it is the time between preventive measures implementation when these actions can bring harm and cause complications as well as help and the visible health improvement (Lee, Leipzig, and Walter 2610). Thus, prevention is an essential component studied by nursing science.

Finally, ethical concerns remain relevant. They are intertwined not only with routine nursing practice and emergency and end-of-life situations but also carrying out research. It will be no exaggeration to state that all actions of nurses and other health care professionals touch upon some ethical considerations. The present area is characterized by the specific issues associated with senior citizenship: age discrimination, respect for autonomy, respect for privacy, and decision-making competency (Maddox 222). In other words, nursing science studies the standards of care in relation to interpersonal communication and recommends certain rules and appropriate models of behavior in a particular situation.Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

Present-Day Solutions

Nursing science helps identify the current challenges in geriatrics and promotes corresponding decisions. Although much work is still to be done in order to provide adequate care and improve people’s health, the present-day achievements and plans are remarkable. In this section, the contents of Healthy People 2020, technical innovations, geriatric education development, and changes in the organization of medical practice that are only a few of the accomplishments are described.

Healthy People is a nationwide program that aims at improving the health of the American population and sets several objectives for ten years. As it is stated, the mission of this program includes identifying nationwide health improvement priorities, involving diverse sectors to take measures to enhance policies and improve practices via the best available evidence and knowledge, and raise public awareness and understanding of the situation in health care (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion par. 8).Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

It is emphasized that federal assistance should focus on supporting specific programs (for instance, Older Americans Act programs) pertaining to concrete problems and addressing elderly people with low income. Thus, Healthy People 2020 is an important program that helps authorities and health care providers orientate in the health care system, and geriatrics have every opportunity to develop in this context. Nursing science can also make use of this approach and examine how these criteria refer to the actual nursing practice in geriatrics.

The importance of technical innovations is obvious. To improve the quality of services, effectively cure senior adult patients, and develop prevention as the leading direction of growth, health care maintains awareness in this sphere. EHealth services implementation is probably the most representative example. There are many studies that prove the effectiveness of this innovation. The case of the Pathway Through Pain program is connected with the on-line pain self-management: it includes 24 steps introducing different techniques that can be used to cope with chronic pain (Currie par. 17).Nursing Care for the Elderly Essay

According to this study, most people welcome the usage of new technologies in health care and feel their positive effect. Thus, technological development is also significant in other spheres outside nursing science: nursing informatics, family practitioner’s work, and others. The researchers underline that the potential of eHealth is considerable; however, personal preferences may make an impact on users and become a decisive factor when they choose the type of EHealth services. Thus, the sphere of technical advances becomes one of the essential issues for nursing science.