Posted: June 24th, 2015

Writing a report to promote the health, safety and independence of an older person.

Use the following case study to write a report for the A Nursing Magazine which is read by nursing students.
The theme of this month’s magazine is The experience of ageing in community healthcare.
The report you will write is to help the readers understand the most important concepts/principles when nursing older people. The aim is to promoting the health, safety and independence of older people who live in the community.
You are required to analyse the case study and apply theories and principles of communication and ageing. You will provide coverage of relevant age related changes and the relevant assessments a registered nurse would undertake to keep the older person as independent as possible.
To enable ease of reading for your magazine readers, it is suggested that you write the report using the following subheadings:
1) Introduction (including a brief introduction to the case study you have selected however do not include the entire case scenario as the magazine will include this on another page)
2) How the person’s experience of ageing relates to social and psychological theories of ageing
3) The communication theories that underpin the way you would interact with the person.
3) The age-related changes that relate to the person (dot points can be used in this section)
4) The assessments a community registered nurse would undertake to keep the person as independent as possible and the rationale for these (a table format can be used for this section)
5) A review of their medication outlining the implications, possible adverse effects and interactions. (a table format can be used for this section)
6) Nursing interventions and rationales (you can use a table format for this section that identifies the issue, the corresponding intervention and its justification)
7) Conclusion where you summarise the main points of the report.
8) Reference list
Choose one of the following case studies for your magazine report.
Case Study 1: Merindah
Merindah is a 79 year old Indigenous woman who lives in Cootamundra in Wiradjuri country. She has been a very active and involved member of the community. After retiring from her Registered Nurse role at the local hospital, she spent many hours doing volunteer work with older Indigenous people and was recognised in a Premier’s Award in 2012.
Her once beautiful black hair is now dull, thinning and grey. Her skin is dry and wrinkled. Merindah feels the cold more than she used to.
Merindah had a hip replacement three months ago due to arthritis and she has not recovered as quickly as she had hoped. This has had an impact on her independence and autonomy, which distresses her. Her family, who live one block away from her home, are happy to continue supporting her with her Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), but she wants to be completely self-caring. The most challenging tasks are attending personal hygiene in her small bathroom where the shower is over the bath. She also struggles with cooking her own meals as she cannot stand for long enough to cook the foods she prefers. Merindah only uses a wheelie walker if she becomes too tired or has too much pain. Her daughter is most concerned about her falling if she is alone at home. Medications are self-administered but Merindah has difficulty getting them from the cupboard which is out of reach of her great-grandchildren.
Today, you notice that Merindah has bruises on her legs and arms and appears to be in more pain than usual.

Medications:
Panadeine Forte 2 BD
Digoxin 0.625mg mane
Celebrex 100mg BD
Mylanta 10ml PRN
Coloxyl and Senna 2 BD PRN
Rationale
Assessment is the basis for care of all clients in the health system. This assessment task challenges the student to use their critical thinking skills, knowledge of normal ageing changes, patterns of health, social interaction and illness in the older person. It requires the student to take an holistic view of the older client.
This assignment addresses the following learning areas:
• The affect of the ageing process on body systems and functioning.
• Contemporary approaches to gerontic nursing care of the well/independent older person.
• Health promotion and health education strategies for the older person.
• Nursing assessment, interventions and care of individuals with selected long term health challenges pertinent to older people.
• Theories related to the social and psychological aspects of ageing
• Patterns of health and illness in the ageing process and ageing populations.
• A critical analysis of contemporary literature on issues surrounding the ageing population.
• A demonstrable synthesis of the subject’s learning outcomes.