Health Care Needs in Older People

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

2HEALTH CARE NEEDS IN OLDER PEOPLE
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).