 Investigating the biologic aging process itself including
the causes of aging, it’s effects and mechanism
Why should you be interested in Gerontology?
- Gerontology is a growing field that will become important over
the next 30 years
- The number of older persons in the world’s population is high
than it has ever been and it will be as medical progress extends
our lifetime. Which means, there will be 1 elderly in every 8 of the
Earth’s inhabitant
Expanding Career Opportunities
- Fastest growing age group: 80 years and above (very old)
o These trends will result in demand for professionals
with knowledge and expertise in aging
- Expanded career opportunities in gerontology and geriatrics are
foremost in many disciplines and professions
Stimulating Challenging Field
- The field of Aging is very diverse, offering many different
employment opportunities
- This diversity exists, because many older persons are very
different from each other in many ways
- As we age, our experiences, needs, resources and abilities varies
according to gender, race, ethnicity, and economic status
Multidisciplinary Opportunities
- As service provider – coordinating information with doctors and
families; create linkages from the elderly to healthcare facilities
- As health provider – providing hospital care, day care, home care
to older people; hands on care that we provide to our patient
- As an educator – you may teach a course on work and retirement
- As a researcher – study the relationship between maintenance of
friendships network and the mental and physical health of older
person;
ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING
- A series of basic activities performed by individuals on a daily
basis necessary for independent living at home or in the
community
- Includes: bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding, continence, and
transferring
- Nurses can help in feeding, inserting foley bag catheter,
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
- Activities related to independent living
- Include preparing meals, managing money, shopping for groceries
or personal items, performing light or heavy housework, doing
laundry, using a telephone
- Assess if patients can prepare meals for themselves. If not, do it
for them.
ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY
- A system of housing and limited care that is designed for senior
citizens who need some assistance with daily activities but do not
require care in a nursing home
- Residents in an assisted living community generally require
custodial care
- Residents in a nursing home require a round-the-clock care and
monitoring. They typically live with more complex healthcare
conditions that require assistance of a nurse.
GERONTOLOGY
- Is a broad term used to define the study of aging, or the aged.
- This includes the biophysical aspects of aging
- Gerontology encompasses the ff:
 Studying physical, mental, and social changes in people
as they age
 Investigating the social and psychosocial impact of
aging – sociogerontology
 Investigating the interface of biological aging and age-
related diseases – geroscience
 Investigating the effects of an aging society
 Applying their knowledge to policies and programs –
macroscopic (government planning; more on general
like ordinances) and microscopic (running a nursing
home)
- Multi-disciplinary and is concerned with physical, mental, and
social aspects and implications of aging
- Although gerontology and geriatrics have different emphasis, they
both have the goal of understanding aging so that people can
maximize their functions and achieve higher quality of life.
- Under the umbrella of gerontology are several subfields including:
o Geriatrics
 A specialty that focuses on healthcare of
elderly people
 Refers to medical care of the aged
 Medical specialty focused in care and
treatment of diseases of old people
o Social gerontology
 Concerned mainly with the social aspects of
aging versus the biological or psychological
 Understands how the biological processes
of aging influence the social aspects of aging
o Geropsychology
 A branch of psychology concerned with
helping older adults and their families
maintain well being, overcome problems,
and achieve maximum potential during later
life
 More on mental or maturity
o Geropharmacology
 Study of pharmacology as it relates to older
adults
 The credential for a pharmacist certified in
geropharmacology is CGP (Certified
Geriatric Pharmacist)
 Like changing pill sizes so that it can easily
swallowed
o Financial gerontology
 Gerontological nursing Is another emerging
subfield that combines knowledge of
financial planning and services with a
special expertise in the needs of older
adults
 Intellectual intersection of two fields:
gerontology and finance, each of which has
a practitioner and academic components
 Assess client if they still know how to
compute like counting change and assess
their cognitive ability
 This is why insurance is important for older
clients – hospitalization cause is very high –
financial planning is very essential because
they need to be prepared
o Gerontological rehabilitation nursing
 Combines expertise in gerontological
nursing with rehabilitation concepts and
practice
 Purpose to assist older persons regain and
maintain the highest level of function and
independence possible while preventing
complications and enhancing quality of life
 Assist in maintaining higher level of function
and promote independence
 If they can still wash dishes, let them
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 GERONTOLOGISTS VIEW AGING IN 4 PROCESSES
Policies – what are the rules and regulation in the country itself that can
benefit the elderly if they are hospitalized
Psychology – maturity; loss of memory; neurologic changes
Gerontology – can be interchanged with geriatrics but geriatrics is part of
gerontology
Gerontological Nursing
- Falls within the discipline of nursing and the scope of nursing
practice
- It involves nurses advocating for the health of older persons at all
levels of prevention
- Gerontology nurses work with health elderly persons in their
communities, acutely ill or disabled elders in long term care
facilities, skilled care, home care and hospice
- Health promotion – promote healthy lifestyle for our patients to
live longer
- Take care of them to make elderly have the best quality of life
1. Chronological aging – on the basis of a person’s years from birth
2. Biological aging – refers to physical changes that reduces the
efficiency of organ systems, such as lungs, heart, circulatory
system
3. Psychological Aging
o Includes changes that occur in sensory and perceptual
processes, mental functioning (memory, learning,
intelligence), personality, drives and motives
4. Social Aging
o Refers to individual’s changing roles and relationship
within the organizations, and with the whole world
o Losing some of your friends and coworkers as you grow
old
o Due to changes in biological aspect, relation with other
people also change – family outing and because of the
pain or incontinence that you have, you will not go
with them because you see it as a hassle

OLD AGES CAN BE DIVIDED BY DECADE

- Over 65 years of age - Dinarian – 10-19 years
- Young old: 65-74 years old - Vicenarian – 20-29 years
- Middle old: 75-84 years old - Tricenarian – 30-39 years
- Old old: 85 and up (frail elderly) - Quadragenarian – 40-49 years
- Frail/Frailty: weak and delicate - Quinquagenarian – 50-59 years
- Sexagenarian – 60-69 years
AGING - Septuagenarian – 70-79 years
- Progressive functional decline - Octogenarian – 80-89 years
- Gradual deterioration of physiologic function with age - Nonagagenarian – 90-99 years
- As age increases, deterioriation of function further progress - Centenarian – 100 years old
- Decreased in fecundity – decrease in fertility in both men and - Supercentenarian – over 110 years old
women; dali ma observe sa women due to menopause
- Intrinsic inevitable, irreversible age-related process of loss of Life Expectancy
viability and increase in vulnerability - It is the average number of years that a person can be expected to
live
TO BE CONSIDERED NORMAL, 4 CONDITIONS MUST BE MET: - At birth: Male – 67.3 years; Female – 78.2 years
1. Universal – that is it occurs in all members of the species to a - At 60 years old: Male – 17 years; Female – 19 years
certain degree; true to all - Biologically – higher mortality of male fetuses and male infants,
2. Progressive – changes occur gradually over time inhibiting effects of estrogen
3. Irreversible – one can slow down the processes of aging, but it - Socially – earlier in the century, more men than women die
continues no matter what the intervention among elderly
4. Deleterious – which means it gets progressively worse - Reversal of sex ratio is the result in recent phenomenon:
 Lifestyle
AFTER 30 YEARS CHANGES OCCUR THAT REFLECT NORMAL DECLINE IN  Exposure to hazardous work
ORGAN SYSTEM  War
 Homicide
 Accidents – sea, land, air
 Life expectancy at 1 yr – 6 yrs – greater for female
infants
- In 2012, 53.8% are older women as a percentage of the
population aged 60+

AGEISM
- Is a stereotype and prejudice against individual or groups because
of age
LONGEVITY

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 - The period of time an organism is expected to live under ideal 1. Critical Thinking
circumstances 2. Communication
- It is influenced by heredity and environment 3. Assessment
SENESCENCE 4. Technical Skills
- Processes by which the capacity for growth and functions are lost
over time, ultimately leading to death Core Knowledge
1. Health promotion, risk education, and disease prevention
ATTITUDES TOWARD AGING AND OLDER ADULTS 2. Illness and disease management
- The way you view aging an older adults is often a product of your 3. Information and health care technologies – need to know this;
environment and the experiences to which you have been some countries have bracelets for people with dementia that will
exposed alarm if the patient kay malapas sa balay; part of their disease
- Ageism – negative attitude towards aging and older adults arise process is wandering and they do not know how to go home
from negative experience with them 4. Ethics
5. Human diversity
6. Global healthcare
7. Healthcare system and policies

ROLES OF GERONTOLOGICAL NURSE

Role Development
Provider of Care 1. Provider of care
- Nurse gives direct, hands-on-care to older adults in a variety of 2. Designer/ Manager/ Coordinator of Care
setting 3. Member of a profession
- The nurse should be educated about disease processes and
syndromes commonly seen in older persons
- This may include knowledge of risk factors, signs and symptoms,
usual medical treatment, rehabilitation and end-of-life care
Teacher
- Essential part of all nursing is teaching
- They focus their teaching on modifiable risk factors and health
promotion. Many diseases and debilitating conditions of aging can
be prevented through lifestyle modifications such as health diet,
smoking cessation, weight maintenance, increased physical
activity, and stress management
- Nurses may develop expertise in specialized areas and teach skills
to other nurses in order to promote quality patient care among
older adults
Manager
- Balance concerns of the patient, family, nursing, and the rest of
the interdisciplinary team
- Must be skilled in leadership, time management, building
relationships, communication, and managing change
- Supervise other nursing personnel including licensed practical
nurse (LPN), certified nurse assistant (CNA), and other unlicensed
assistive personnel (UAP)
Advocate
- Acts on behalf of older adults to promote their best interest and
strengthen their autonomy and decision making
- Does not mean making decisions for older adults, but empowering
them to remain independent and retain dignity, even in difficult
situations
- GINA – to care for elderly
Research Consumer
- Must remain abreast of current research literature, reading and
putting into practice the results of reliable and valid studies
- Using evidence based practice, nurses can improve the quality of
patient care in all settings
- Attending seminars and workshops, participating in professional
organizations, pursuing additional formal education or degrees
and obtaining certification

CORE COMPETENCIES
- Provide a foundation of added knowledge and skills necessary for
the nurse to implement in daily practice
- Knowledge, skills and attitude that are essential for excellent
clinical nursing practice with older adults

AACN essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing

practice
- Framework to help nurse educators integrate specific nursing
content into their programs

Core Competencies

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