Care of the Elderly: Changes, Communication Barriers, and Conditions

This article discusses the changes that occur with aging, including physical, physiological, mental, and social changes. It also covers ways to minimize communication barriers with elderly patients and common conditions affecting the elderly such as Parkinson's, dementia, arthritis, and stroke.

Care of the elderly

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Task 1: different changes occurring with age.........................................................................1
Task 2: ways to minimize barrier to communicate elder people...........................................2
Task 3: Condition affect elderly people.................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Taking Care of elder people means taking care of all the special requirements and
medications which are specially required by senior citizens. Medical care of senior citizens
includes appropriate medication and doctor visit. Health problem arising with ageing can not be
controlled but these health complication can be managed with good health care and a balanced
diet. Most elderly experiences a number of diseases and most common are dementia, memory
loss, arthritis and stoke. The aim of this assessment is to cover all the physical, physiological,
mental and social changes which happens due to ageing. The discussion will be based removing
barriers which comes in way of communicating elder patients. Conditions affecting elderly
people such as dementia, memory loss, Parkinson, arthritis, osteoporosis and stroke will be also
considered.
MAIN BODY
Task 1: different changes occurring with age
Actually, ageing is a process which occurs in 5 stages including independence,
interdependence, interdependence, dependency, crisis management and end of life. There are
three types of ageing which are biological ageing, psychological ageing and social ageing.
Biological ageing is also known as senescence which means damage of tissue and it is caused by
hormonal changes. Phycological ageing refers to ageing in all organ system. Social ageing can be
seen in a person with changes in his behaviour, role and relationship. A number of physical
changes occur due to ageing. Bone density get decreased and thus it causes weakening of bone.
Bones get contract in size. Muscles also becomes weak by loosing its strength and flexibility. In
older people, skin becomes less stretchy and thin. Blood vessels found under the skin are
punctured and this causes age spots (Allen, and Miles, 2019). Due to ageing blood vessels
looses its elasticity and fats also get deposited at the wall of artery and thus heart is required to
work hard for the blood supply throughout the body. As bones get shrink the person becomes
more liable to fracture. With ageing oesophagus are less able to contract and thus it becomes
harder to swallow. Digestive secretions are also reduced. By loosing cells kidney becomes less
efficient to filter out blood and does not remove waste material properly. As the brain cells get
decreased it causes memory loss (Aulenbacher, Décieux, and Riegraf, 2018). Ageing causes
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less production of tears and recognition of colours becomes more harder. May eye complication
arises due to ageing such as cataract, glaucoma and temporal arteritis. With age skin losses its
moisture and becomes brittle. Growth of nails are hairs becomes slower. Less physical activity
and poor metabolism becomes a reason of weight gain. Elder people faces ear complication as
they can not listen loud music and faces problems hearing high pitches. Psychological changes
occur due to ageing includes memory loss, problems faced in recognising faces, less decision
making skills, slower reaction and depression (Ayalon, and Rapolienė, 2022). Ageing causes
reduction in reflexive time and it takes more time to respond. Ageing makes a person less focus
and this is how it decreases attention span. Memory loss causes less decision making ability
where as in some cases it get increased due to experiences. Less physical activity due to physical
changes makes people sit in their rooms and this causes depression because they feel lonely. In
some case elder people are satisfied with what they have (Bodner, and Bergman, 2019).
Physiological changes may occur due to ageing may also include decreased renal function,
cardiovascular system and respiratory system. Blood pressure also get increased as fat get
deposited at the wall of arteries. Ageing causes decreased social contact. Older people may
experience psychosis, dementia and anxiety and this causes emotional changes. The fear of
death creates anxiety in older people (Kim, and Waldfogel, 2020). Feeling loneliness, guilt, fear,
regression, sense of helplessness, stubbornness, grief and anger are also some emotional changes
can be seen in elder people. Some elder people deny to adapt changes occurring around them.
Task 2: ways to minimize barrier to communicate elder people
Barriers faced while communicating a older patient may include hearing loss,
neurological disorder and failing eyesight. Barriers comes in way communicating elder people
can be removed by making eye contact, having patience while talking, lightening carefully and
communicating clearly. Speaking slowly and clearly makes older people understand what we are
saying. A physician should avoid distraction while communicating a older patient. Clarifying
ideas before communication help them to understand the things easier. Good and effective
communication always make patient adhere to the treatment. Making older people feel that they
are being listened and their thoughts and ideas are being valued is really helpful for
communicating older people. A physician should be aware about patient health status before
having conversation with them because older patient suffering with dementia or other mental
disorder needs extra care while communication (Mertens and et. al., 2019). Effective
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communication with older people also enhances patient outcome (Meurs, and Giddings, 2021).
Communication with older patient needs a special kind of training which are given to nursing
student at their training period. Using active listening skills also helps to remove barriers to
communicate elder patient. Avoiding medical jargon improves communication with elder
patients. Using short and simple words is helpful for making elder people understand things
easily. While communicating the speaker should be clear with ideas or information going to
deliver because any confusion may lead to poor communication. People avoid talking to older
people because it take efforts to make things understand but this creates a barrier. Until and
unless if it is not compulsory to go to an older one nobody wants to do so. Patience plays a vital
role in communicating to a older patient. Sometimes it may required to repeat the things again
gain to make things understand clearly (Torres, and Lindblom, 2021).
Task 3: Condition affect elderly people
In older people the level of dopamine get decreased and thus creates imbalance between
dopamine and acetylcholine. This lead to Parkinson disease and symptom may experienced are
tremor, Lew like body, shaking hand and rigidity. Parkinson is very common among older
people. About 1% of older people at the age of 60 suffer with Parkinson where as 5% people
over 85 have high risk of Parkinson. Dementia causes lack of confidence and make feel
insecure. Older people suffering with dementia start feeling they do not have control on their life
and do not belief their own decision. Due to dementia many other problem arises such as
depression and anxiety. Arthritis causes lack of mobility and makes a older person physically
inactive. Sitting at home make them a victim of depression. Due to Arthritis patient feel chronic
pain and it causes sleeping disturbance. Less physical activity also makes patient look fatigue
and patient starts loosing confidence. Elderly patient living with a stroke may suffer from
paralysis, weakness and problem with balance. The ability to recover at older age becomes less.
In case of stroke recovery occurs after 3 to 6 months. Care plans for elderly patients includes
regular check-up and proper medication. Osteoporosis makes the bone fragile and causes chronic
pain in older people. It also causes loss of height. Fragile bones breaks easily even due to a small
stress causes fracture. Weekly Doctor visit helps to let them know about their health
complications and effective medication improves quality heath care. Good communication with
doctor and an older patient makes him adhere to the treatment.
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CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it is c oncluded that ageing makes different changes which
affect the life. Physical changes made by ageing includes bone shrinking, muscles weaknesses,
eye complication, reduced GIT secretions, poor metabolism, less physical activity, hearing
problems and less renal activity. Physiological changes occurred due to ageing are reduction in
reflection time, loss of consciousness, less focus and and less decision making abilities.
Emotional changes may experienced by the age includes feeling loneliness, regression, guilty,
anger and depressive. Ageing makes people feel different to others and it become more difficult
to adapt changes occurring around them. It is analysed that communicating with older people
requires a special training because they need extra care. It take a lot of effort to make them
understand what we are saying. Sometimes it is required to be a good listener so older people
can share what they feel. Speaking clearly and slowly make elder people understand things
easily. Elder people suffers a number of diseases including heart stoke, high blood pressure,
Parkinson, paralysis, arthritis and dementia. Due to these diseases older people become
physically inactive and this make them feel depressive and lonely.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Allen, J. and Miles, A., 2019. Walking the thin white line–managing voice in the older
adult. Speech, Language and Hearing, 22(1), pp.25-31.
Aulenbacher, B., Décieux, F. and Riegraf, B., 2018. Capitalism goes care: Elder and child care
between market, state, profession, and family and questions of justice and
inequality. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.
Ayalon, L. and Rapolienė, G., 2022. Changes in Attitudes Toward Aging, Older People and
Elder Care From the Perspective of Former Migrant Care Workers. Research on Aging,
p.01640275211069605.
Bodner, E. and Bergman, Y.S., 2019. The utility of a positive body image among community-
dwelling older adults who perceive death to be near and fear it. Research on Aging, 41(8),
pp.751-771.
Kim, S. and Waldfogel, J., 2020. Elder care and the role of paid leave policy. Handbook on
Demographic Change and the Lifecourse, pp.262-275.
Mertens and et. al., 2019. Individual, social, and physical environmental factors related to
changes in walking and cycling for transport among older adults: A longitudinal
study. Health & Place, 55, pp.120-127.
Meurs, M. and Giddings, L., 2021. Elder care and paid work: gender differences in the
relationship between unpaid elder care work and employment in Bulgaria. Journal of
European Social Policy, 31(2), pp.223-238.
Torres, S. and Lindblom, J., 2021. Migrants in Media Representations of Elder Care: Ambivalent
Sentiments. In Ageing and Migration in a Global Context (pp. 163-176). Springer, Cham.
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