Growth & Development - Late Adulthood

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Growth & Development – Late Adulthood

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Outline

Overview

Patients who are in late adulthood will begin to require extra support as their mobility decreases and they experience changes to hearing, vision and cognition.

Nursing Points

General

Late Adulthood = >65 years

Assessment

Development (physical chanages)
1. Skin and hair continue to dry out
2. Skeletal degeneration
3. Loss of muscle mass
Cognitive
1. Become less adaptive to change
2. May have difficulty with new memories
3. Difficulty coping/accepting cognitive changes
Psychosocial
1. Erikson’s
  1. Integrity vs Despair
2. Begin experiencing the death of peers
3. Retirement
4. Grandparenting
5. Increased risk for becoming isolated and lonely

Therapeutic Management

Patient Interactions
1. Be sensitive to vision and hearing changes
2. Consider shorter teaching sessions
3. Teach with respect for patient’s experience and knowledge base
4. Patient safety issues
  1. Polypharmacy
  2. Driving Safety
Common health issues
1. Osteoporosis
2. Cataracts
3. Risk for falls
4. Increased risk for influenza and pneumonia
5. Health screenings
  1. Osteoporosis
  2. Depression
  3. Dementia

Nursing Concepts

End of Life
1. Patients in late adulthood should be advised to think about their wishes for end of life care.
Human Development
1. Late adulthood is characterized by activites like retirement and grandparenting.
Patient Centered Care
1. Patients who are in late adulthood will begin to require extra support as mobility decreases and there are changes with hearing and vision.

Patient Education

Patients who are in late adulthood should be educated on the importance of receiving annual flu vaccines.

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Transcript

Hey guys, in this lesson we are going to talk about growth and development in late adulthood.

Late adulthood is typically thought of as being 65 years and older. During this stage, the impact of aging will vary greatly with each individual person because of lifestyle decisions and genetic predisposition for certain illnesses.

But on the whole, everyone will begin to see a decline in vision, hearing, mobility and cognition and there will be a greater need for support in day to day living.

Physically, the aging process that began in middle adulthood will continue with skeletal degeneration, loss of muscle mass, hearing loss, vision changes and decreased flexibility and mobility.

Cognitively, patients will become less adaptive to change and may often have difficulty forming new memories. Many patients in late adulthood begin to experience dementia.

The psychosocial phase for late adulthood is integrity vs despair, which is really about reflecting on one’s life looking to see if they are happy with it or if they have a lot of regrets and worries.

This is also the retirement phase, where people may be transitioning out of careers. Grandparenting can be a big part of this phase as well.

In the later years of late adulthood there is a risk for isolation and loneliness if a partner and family and friends have passed away.

There is often a strong drive to organize personal affairs in order to prepare for the end of life.

For your patient interactions it’s important to remember that patients may be poor hearing and vision. It may be helpful to provide teaching in shorter sessions.

Common patient safety issues are polypharmacy, driving and an increased risk for falls.

Common health issues are osteoporosis and fractures, cataracts, influenza and pneumonia, depression and dementia.

Okay, let’s recap and highlight some key points. Late adulthood is usually considered to be 65 years and older. Physical changes really begin to have an impact on life. As hearing, vision and mobility decline, patients become increasingly more dependent and need social and community support.

Cognitively, patients are less flexible and may have a difficult time making new memories and learning new things. Dementia is common and patients may also experience anxiety and depression as they struggle to cope with these changes.

Patient education should be delivered in short sessions and it’s very important to perform medication reviews and work to reduce the risk of falls and illness.

That’s it for our lesson on growth and development in late adulthood. Make sure you check out all the resources attached to this lesson. Now, go out and be your best self today. Happy Nursing!