Aging Process (Nursing)

00:01 Hi! I’m Joanna Jackson, and we’re going to talk about the aging process. Aging is something that begins at birth. It’s not something we typically associate in young children, but by age 30, this death and dying process is actually beginning. Chronological age is not always the same as biological age. Sometimes we think that by looking at someone, we can kind of tell their age or even their birth date tells their age. Truthfully, there are things external to patients and individuals that affect how old they really are.

00:34 I’m going to give you a brief overview of some of the concepts we’ll discuss. We’ll discuss theories on aging, expected age-related changes, care and education for the newborn through 85 years old and plus, and the nursing process. So there are several theories on aging.

00:54 These can be divided into two classifications. One, our biological theories. The most common are error theory, free radical theory, and wear and tear theory. These relate to physiological changes in regard to aging. It’s important to review these theories only briefly before taking the NCLEX. The other classifications of theories on aging include psychosocial theories. These are a lot more commonly used, activity theory, disengagement theory, and continuity theory. It’s important to review this three prior to taking the NCLEX as well.

01:33 So let’s talk about some age-related changes. Your bones and joints change. As I just mentioned, at age 30, there are some physiological changes within your bones and joints. It’s common for them to constrict and shrink. It’s common for them to lose their density and to be more fragile. Eyes, ears, and senses are also affected by aging. It’s perfectly common and normal for your eyes to not see things as clearly as before, for you to not hear things as clearly before, and for your taste and smell to also be affected.

02:07 It’s very common for the skin to undergo a variety of age-related changes. Skin turgor, for instance, if you just take a second and pinch yourself, for those 30 years and under have really elastic skin, it snaps right back. As you age, that elasticity decreases.

02:25 Those are a perfectly normal response. Elimination is also affected by age. One’s baseline, normal GI function tends to slow as you age. Now, we’ll talk about age-appropriate patient education. This is a really important concept to nursing. The NCLEX is filled with questions in relation to which intervention is appropriate for which age. It’s important for the nurse to be able to design patient education for each individual patient. Children, birth to 18 months, the education should be focused on the parent or primary caregivers. For toddlers, aged one to three years old, the focus is still on the parents. However, a nurse can use toys and dolls in order to demonstrate a certain procedure or how to give a medication to a patient. For children, aged 6 to 18, it’s important for the nurse to consider their attention spans. Keep teachings and education short.

03:26 Use age appropriate games and learning activities to help demonstrate the procedure. For adults, aged 18 to 85, it’s really important to individualize the education. Consider their education level, consider their mental status, and use self-direction. The patient should be a participant in the education.

03:47 For older adults, 85 and up, allow for adequate time for the lesson.

03:54 Consider size and font, and don’t make assumptions about their learning capacity.

03:59 It’s important for nurses to consider medications and the effects on aging. Be aware of the effects aging has on medications. Some medications have different doses depending on the patient’s age. They also affect the patient differently. It’s important to understand the body systems and changes to help you be sure that you’re giving the best patient care.

04:20 Now we’ll talk about aging and the nursing process. Some nursing diagnosis that are important to use in older adults are risk for powerlessness, death anxiety, impaired social interaction, interrupted family processes, impaired memory, frail elderly syndrome or risk thereof, and risk for falls are really important nursing diagnosis when dealing with older adults.

04:48 Some appropriate nursing interventions to help with those nursing diagnosis are: encourage the patient to talk about their anxious feelings, reinforce that it’s a perfectly normal response, reduce sensory stimulation that may be bothersome, encourage the patient to rest, and inform the patient of appropriate community resources. It’s also really important not to make any assumptions about the patient’s capabilities based on their age. If you remember, chronological age does not always match biological age. It will be perfectly okay and normal for a patient who’s 85 years and older not to have all of these physiological changes and still be able to live independently and like someone who’s 40.

05:33 Here are some quick tips for success. Always assess, diagnose, plan, and then implement.

05:42 Always assess before action. If given a patient scenario, before you can treat, even in an emergency situation, the nurse should always assess first. If two answers feel correct, always choose the one that feels the most correct. It’s very common to get the options with two things that you may want to do. Pick the one that feels like the best answer.

06:08 Lastly, opposites attract. If you have four options and two are worded very similar or they’re complete opposites of each other, you will find that the answer is in one of those two.