Health & Illness in the Older Person

Running head: HEALTH & ILLNESS IN THE OLDER PERSON
HEALTH & ILLNESS IN THE OLDER PERSON
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1HEALTH & ILLNESS IN THE OLDER PERSON
Par 1: The Case Study
Introduction
Aging is the biological process that every living being faces due to accumulation of
their cellular and biological molecular damages (Gibellini et al., 2019). These damages
creates complications in the physical and mental capacity of the individuals undergoing aging
processes and increases their risk of health complications with morbidity and mortality
(Sharpe, 2016). As aging is primarily associated with dependency inability, while providing
care for such patients, it is important to implement proper nursing strategy so that the needs
of the patients could be addressed (Garvey, Hurley & Kushner, 2016). Similar clinical
experience encountered in the clinical placement would be mentioned in this paper so that the
application of theoretical aspects in the practical scenario could be understood. With the
description of the case study of Mrs. Helena Jones (58) and her associated health
complications, the care plan developed for her con-morbidities would be mentioned.
Case study
I would mentioned about one of the case scenarios that I experienced while my
clinical placement in the care facility and in the process I would mention about the clinical
condition of Mrs. Helena Jones, a 58 year old female, who was admitted to the healthcare
facility with increased blood glucose level and increased pain in her right knee. The patient
had a 13 year long history of arthritis and her daughter mentioned about her weaknesses in
legs due to which she was unable to walk on her own. She also mentions of her dizziness and
sensitization in hands, due to which she was unable to hold objects in her hands. At the time
of admission, urine incontinence was observed in the patient. In a recent health checkup in
her locality, the patient was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus and due to which her
blood glucose level increased. Upon assessing the knee pain of the patient in the PQRST

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assessment scale, the pain level was found to be 8/10. Hence, from the entire health
complication, two of the aspects that were identified as the primary comorbidity for the
patient was her severe arthritis associated pain and her increased blood glucose level.
In this context, the effect of stereotyping on the healthcare aspects of the patients
should be discussed as aging is highly associated with stereotyping in Australian culture.
Stereotyping aging population affect the ability of the individuals to attain health as people
stereotype their abilities, their physical and mental strength (Martinez et al., 2016). In case of
Mrs. Helena Jones, her mental abilities nd health was also stereo typed due to her pain and
her inability to move and her complication of incontinence. She also suffered from stress and
depression due to her inabilities of performing activities of daily life on her own. Besides
this, nursing professionals stereotypes her condition with other cases of rheumatoid arthritis
and despite her will of acquiring walking, moving on her own, she was asked to take rest on
her bed. Hence, this affected her chances of recovery and affected her mental health. Due to
this, the complication of patient’s condition increased (Robinson et al., 2019).
Part 2: Plan of Care
Introduction
While providing care to the patients, there are multiple aspects that the nursing
professionals need to remember and implement. One of the most important aspects that
should be included in this care process is the application of patient centered care so that all
the needs and requirements of the patient to achieve well- being could be provided to the
patients. As per Garvey, Hurley and Kushner (2016) patient centered care helps the nursing
professionals to involve the patient in the care process so that with application of effective
interventions, the patients and their health literacy could be enhanced. There are multiple
aspects which could be used while implementing patient centered care, such as

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implementation of plan of care so that people could understand the effectiveness of it and
could help the patient with consistent care. Hence, it helps to develop holistic approach of
care. In this case of Mrs. Helena Jones, I would be discussing about the care plan I developed
for her arthritis and diabetic conditions. In this aspect, the discussion would be based upon
three primary objectives of the nursing intervention so that her critical condition related to
rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes could be treated and managed effectively. Further, with
proper implementation of effective care for Mrs. Helena, the critical nursing interventions,
their risks and their scope of improvement would be discussed so that the scope of improved
quality of life could be understood.
Priority 1
The first care priority selected for Mrs. Helena Jones is her rheumatoid arthritis
related condition, due to which she is suffering from severe pain. As per Newlove‐Delgado et
al. (2017), the primary concern of rheumatoid arthritis is associated with the synovial
membranes of joints that leads to deformities in the patient’s joints and increases the level of
pain. This pain could turn up in critical condition, as nursing professionals generally
stereotype this pain with the aging related pain due to which complications arises. Further as
per Frecklington et al. (2018), if the pain of rheumatoid arthritis are not treated or managed
properly, then it could lead to critical health complications with swollen joints, hampered
functioning in major organs as well as deformities in the bones. In this aspect, it is important
to implement nursing interventions, both pharmacological and non pharmacological
interventions so that the pain and inabilities related to critical conditions could be treated
(Davis et al., 2015). Within pharmacological treatment, the patient would be provided with
anti-inflammatory drugs including the NSAIDS, morphine or other steroids, as well as
physical exercise related non- pharmacological aspects such as physical therapy, counselling
as well as diet (Frecklington et al., 2018). There are multiple aspects that work as evidence