Health Care Needs in Older People

The essay highlights a case study of Anne, an 86 years old women who was recovering from a hip fracture and was in rehabilitation for three weeks. She was facing some major age related changes as with age the individuals cells and organs also changes which result in development of health related problems. In this essay the age-related changes faced by Anne will be highlighted namely disorder of bones (osteoporosis), disorder of eye (Retinal disorder) and urinary incontinence and the effect of these problem on Anne psychological and social living. Appropriate nursing strategy will be discussed in this essay in order to empower Anne to maintain her health condition or to enhance a healthy ageing. Hence, the essay will conclude with an appropriate nursing strategies used by registered nurse (RN) to help the patient to overcome from social, physical or psychological issues.

Running head: HEALTH CARE NEEDS IN OLDER PEOPLE
HEALTH CARE NEEDS IN OLDER PEOPLE
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1HEALTH CARE NEEDS IN OLDER PEOPLE
The essay highlights a case study of Anne, an 86 years old women who was
recovering from a hip fracture and was in rehabilitation for three weeks. She was facing some
major age related changes as with age the individuals cells and organs also changes which
result in development of health related problems (Takagi, Nishida & Fujita, 2015). In this
essay the age-related changes faced by Anne will be highlighted namely disorder of bones
(osteoporosis), disorder of eye (Retinal disorder) and urinary incontinence and the effect of
these problem on Anne psychological and social living. Appropriate nursing strategy will be
discussed in this essay in order to empower Anne to maintain her health condition or to
enhance a healthy ageing (Gomes et al., 2015). Hence, the essay will conclude with an
appropriate nursing strategies used by registered nurse (RN) to help the patient to overcome
from social, physical or psychological issues.
As the patient Anne was an older women it was obvious that she will face certain age-
related changes but the major three changes that were affecting her overall health condition
were urinary incontinence, osteoporosis and retinal disorder (macular degeneration). The
above mentioned changes were affecting her psychological health and also disturbing her
social life which was making her condition worse (Santoni et al., 2015). The first age-related
change that was affecting her health was urinary incontinence that is mainly due to loss of
bladder control. Anne was suffering from urinary incontinence as it is quite common in older
people. In this condition a person always has an urge to urinate and sometimes urinate
accidently (Faleiro et al., 2019). The patient Anne was suffering from this disorder as she
always felt an urge to urinate and was scared that she will not make it to the bathroom for
urinating hence, in that hurry she ended up fracturing her hip. She fell down while rushing
towards the bathroom to urinate and fractured her hip bone that deteriorated her health
condition. She was suffering a lot of physical pain due to the fracture and could not move
around in the house, her social life was also hampered as she could visit her knitting group to

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play bingo games because she was scared that she might urinate in public and could not reach
bathroom leading to any kind of accidental urination (Nia.nih.gov, 2019). Anne was in
psychological dilemma to socialize in her knitting group as her urinary incontinence could
lead to accidental urination hence, she did not wanted to face any mind of embarrassment that
ultimately lead to social exclusion. The second age-related changes, which was distressing
her health condition was osteoporosis. Anne was suffering from osteoporosis that resulted in
brittle bones, thus making the bone weak and fragile. The condition of osteoporosis had
affected Anne’s physical mobility and she was facing difficulty in walking (Nih.gov, 2019).
After her hip replacement surgery she used wheelie walker to mobilise but her mental state
was conscious due to her osteoporosis condition that made her to walk very slowly and
steadily as she was very conscious psychologically due to osteoporosis. Hence, Anne’s health
condition of osteoporosis was affecting her physical, mental and social condition as her
inability to walk was restricting Anne to move out and socialize with people and she might
face social exclusion further affecting her mental health condition. The final age-related
change sin Anne was macular degeneration (AMD). It is a retinal disorder, which is a
primary reason of blindness in U.S. macular degeneration affects the macula (retina), which
provides sharp dominant vision to a person (Nei.nih.gov, 2019). The issue of macular
degeneration was increasing in Anne day by day as her health was getting affected due to
other factors and she was scared that she would turn completely blind and will lose all her
independence. She was getting psychological traumas and was mentally affected due to
macular degeneration. Anne was very scared to freely walk around in the house as her eye
sight were not as sharp as her younger days that was scaring her the most. Hence, the above
mentioned age-related changes were affecting Anne and her health condition. The impact of
every changes were visible in her condition and was affecting her sociologically,
psychologically and physically (Mertens et al., 2019).

3HEALTH CARE NEEDS IN OLDER PEOPLE
Psychosocial theory is best suited for Anne as she required psychological support and
involvement in community. With age human body does become weak and inefficient so it is
very important to be psychologically fit hence Erik Erikson theory of psychosocial
development was appropriate for Anne. Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development
highlights the sociocultural elements of growth and presents those elements in eight diverse
phases of psychosocial conflicts often termed as Erikson’s stages of psychosocial
development that every individual must resolve efficaciously to adjust healthy in the
environment (Miller & Collette, 2019). The last stage of psychosocial development was
appropriate for the patient Anne 86 years old and the final Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial
Development involved older people who are more than 65 and above. The stage highlighted the
concept of Despair vs. Ego integrity comprising of individuals who are retired and must acquire
the sense of fulfilment for better living (Parke, Roisman & Rose, 2019). In Anne’s case she was
experiencing despair as she could not walk or was struggling with osteoporosis making her feel
helpless and lack of independence. Hence, it was very important for Anne to develop the sense of
integrity and fulfilment in order to get away from all psychological problem and to take care of her
health without any mental stress or trauma. It was the responsibility of registered nurse to
implement the concept of Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development in Anne and to
guide her with sense of positivity and hope (Center for resilience, 2019). Registered nurse can
use this theory to understand the psychological happenings that the patient might be facing and
could also implement the theory in relieving the patient from any ongoing psychological stress.
The registered nurse can take up different strategies to support Anne and help her recover
from physical and psychological health issue. Registered nurse should keep a check on fluid intake
by the patient and provide a healthy diet which aids in reducing intestinal constipation (De et al.,
2019). The diet should exclude food that can lead to bladder infection such as carbonated
beverages, caffeine, acid drinks and foods and pepper therefore reducing the urge of urinating and

4HEALTH CARE NEEDS IN OLDER PEOPLE
decreasing urinary incontinence (Taylor et al., 2019). The second strategy would be to assess the
functional ability of the patient on regular basis for identifying the level of mobility and changes in
patient condition, which would help the nurse to establish an effective nursing care plan. The final
strategy would be to establish a safe environment for the patient with sufficient light and space and
also to make sure that no hurdles like furniture’s or hazardous objects are present in patient’s room
hence reducing the overall risk of any possible injury (Shane, 2019). The registered nurse must
educate the patient and the family members reading all possible outcomes that can affect the
patient recovery and health. Hence, the above mentioned strategy can help the patient Anne to feel
better and recover effectively with time.
This essay gives a detail insight regarding Anne, who was suffering from various age-
related changes and had recently faced hip replacement surgery, which made her condition even
worse. The essay also includes the implementation of Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial
Development in order to increase the sense of fulfilment and positivity in the patient’s mind to
boost her mental health. Registered nurse was in charge of taking care of Anne’s health thus
developing and adopting effective nursing strategies to help Anne to recover efficiently and
quickly. The nurse will assess Anne’s health condition and accordingly will develop different
strategies to take care of Anne.

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References
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