Medr

iano,
LindsaySaur
a

3BSN-07

NURSI
NGJOURNAL

SUMMARYOFJOURNALREVI
EWED

Per
spect
iveofOl
derAdul
ts,
2018,
H.Hal
aweh

I
twassai
dthattheoneswithagearet
heonesthathol
dst
hewisdom oft
hewor
ld.
That
'
swhyiti
sev
erybody'
sbusi
nessthatt
heyr
emai
nali
veandarewel
l-managed.

Gerontol
ogicalnur sing orger i
atr
ic nursi
ng does notonl ymean t aking car
e of
geri
atr
icpatientsbutal sounder standinghow t heyageandhow t heycopeupwi ththe
changesmayi tbesoci al,psychol
ogical,f
inancial
,etc.I
tistheresponsibi
l
ityofthenurseto
beablet ocareforthem especi al
lyiftheyhav ediseasesandconditionsthatareresul
tsof
thei
raging.Maintai
ningtheirphysi
cal andment alhealt
hwoul dal
way sbeimportant
.

Astheyage,theywilldev el
opa differentwayoft hinki
ng,perceptionandbehavior
.
Olderadul
tswillnotbeabletot akecareoft hemsel ves.Theyar estr
onglyconcernedabout
thei
rcognit
ivehealt
h.Inthi
scase,nur sesar enotj ustnurses.Theybecomeal otofthi
ngs.
Nursesbecomet eacher
s,manager s,advocates,researchconsumerandt hemosti mport
ant
ofall
,theprovi
derofcare.Nur sesdodi ff
erentr ol
esi nor derforthepatientt
oreceivethe
bestcarepossi
ble.

REFLECTI
ON

Ol
deradul
tstendt obel
ievethattheyar
ey oung.Someoft hem won'
tevenli
kei ti
f
someonecall
sthem oldandwithered.They'
resensi
ti
v eandtheythinkt
hatever
yonethinks
ofthem asweakandf r
agil
e.Thisistrueinsomecasesbutweshoul dknow thatolder
peopl
earestr
ongerthantheyseem.They '
veadaptedintowhattheyarenow,ful
lofwisdom
andli
fe.

Asnur
ses,itisourdutytotakecar eofthem notonl
yoft hemedi calsi
deofthi
ngs
butal
soonsomet hingsregardi
ngtheirsoci
alandpsychol
ogicall
i
f e.That
'swhydoct
orsare
di
ffer
entfr
om nur
ses.Doctorstr
eatil
lnesseswhil
enursestr
eatpeopl e.
Medr
iano,
LindsayS.

3BSN-07

Descr
ibe t
he char
act
eri
sti
cs ofan ol
deradul
tand expl
aint
he r
oles oft
he
ger
ont
ologi
calnur
se.

Thephysi
calcharact
eri
sti
csofolderadul
tsincludethepresenceofwri
nkles,f
rai
l
body,muscleweaknessandinsomepeople,ahunchedback.Theylosethei
rsenseofsi
ght
andhearingandtheirmemoryov ert
ime.Theyareforgetf
ul,st
ubbornatti
mesandwoul d
basi
call
ydemandat t
enti
onallt
hetime.

Olderpeopl
et endtohav eaconnecti
onwit
hot herol
derpeopl
e.Theybuil
dlong
l
asti
ngcompanionshi
pandengagementwi t
heachother
.Theyt endt
osupporteachot
her
andsomeofthem areevenact
iveincommunit
yandchar
itywor
k.

ROLESOFTHEGERONTOLOGI
CALNURSE

PROVI
DEROFCARE

Providi
ngcareist
hemai nroleofgeront
ologicalnur
ses.Sincealotofol
dercli
ents
areunabletot akecar
eofthemselves,nur
sesareneededt ogi v
ehands-oncare evenon
di
ffer
entset ti
ngssuchathomeori nthehospit
al.Asanur se,weshouldbewellversed
aboutdiseasesandcondi
ti
onsthatoccuramongol derpeopl
e.

TEACHER

As a teacher,itwillbe a nur
se'
s dutyt oteach ol
dercl ients aboutlifest
yle
modifi
cati
onsthewoul dsomehowdecreasethei
rchancesongettingdeadlydiseases.Older
peopleshouldbet aughthow tokeepaheal t
hybalanceddiet
,managest ressandt obe
awareoftheconsequencesofpassivesmoki
ng.Theirbodyi
sdifferentfrom whattheyhav e
befor
e,thus,makingthem awareofwhatmi ghthappenift
heydi dn'
tchanget heirl
ifest
yle
wouldbeagr eathelpforthem t
obemi ndf
ulandt hi
nkaboutway swher etheylivehappier
andlonger.

MANAGER

Asmanager s,nur sesareresponsi

bletocoordinatecarebetweenthef amil
yand
thei
rinter
disci
pli
naryteam.Manager smai nt
ainthatev eryacti
onmadei sf orensuri
ng
pati
entsati
sfacti
on.I t'
sallaboutdir
ecti
ngandi nfl
uencingothersthr
oughinterper
sonal
skil
l
sandcommuni cat
ionsthatcanhel
pforthebet
termentofev er
yone.

ADVOCATE

Ol
dercli
ent
'scognit
ivethi
nkinganddeci
sionmaki
ngarealreadyimpai
red.Asan
adv
ocat
e,nur
sesgivethem theopport
uni
tyt
odecidefort
hemsel
ves.Nursesal
soactson
behalfoft
hepatient
st ochooset
hebesti nter
est
softhepati
ents.Wegivesupport
,bei
ng
caref
ulnottoshowappr ov
alordi
sappr
ov alofapati
ent
'schoi
cesbecausetheyknowwhat
theythi
nkisbestforthem.Showi
ngadv ocacymeansthatnursesshoul
dpr eser
vehuman
digni
ty.

RESEARCHCONSUMER

Asnur
ses,i
tisourdutyt
obemor ei
nvol
vedinr
esear
ch.Wit
hthi
s,wefindways,pr
act
ices
andst
andar
dcarethatwecanappl
ytopr
acti
cei
nordert
otakecar
eofpati
ent
smore.