Nursing management
- Nurses play a critical role
- Conducting a comprehensive history and physical assessment
- Participating in plan of care
- Teaching patient and caregiver
- Symptom management
- Evaluating patient and family outcomes
- Nursing assessment
- First attend to primary needs
- Ensure assistive devices are used
- Allow plenty of time
- Interview family or caregivers separately
- Involves an inter-professional approach
- Planning
- Identify strengths and abilities
- Priority goals
- Gain a sense of control
- Feel safe
- Reduce stress
- Nursing implementation
- Modify approach based on the older adult’s physical, functional, and mental status
- Safety first
- Health Promotion
- Acute and Ambulatory Care
- Care transitions can be challenging
- Re-hospitalization is a risk
- Traditional Care Model: evidence-based and innovate care coordination and management model
- Medication use
- Medication use in older adults requires thorough and regular assessment, care planning, and evaluation.
- Older adults may have difficulty due to cognitive impairment, altered sensory perceptions, limited hand mobility, and the high cost of many prescriptions.
- Nonadherence to medication regimens is common.
- Many older adults are unable to read prescription drug labels or understand the health information that is provided to them.
- Older adults may have difficulty managing medication regimens due to cognitive impairment, altered sensory perceptions, limited hand mobility or dexterity, and the high cost of many drugs.
- Polypharmacy, overdose, and addiction to prescription drugs are major causes of illness in older adults.
- Errors from (1) administration of both brand and generic medications, (2) refilling medications too soon or too late resulting in taking the medication incorrectly, and (3) drug-drug interactions can be prevented by having a pharmacist review the medication regimen regularly.
- The American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria are designed to reduce problems with medications in older adults.
