3805NRS - Assessing Cardiovascular Risks in Elderly Australians

This report analyzes the significant health risk of cardiovascular disorders (CVD) among older adults in Australia, emphasizing the increasing disease burden and the need for preventive strategies. It identifies older adults (65+ years) as the primary audience and highlights the importance of nursing professionals in community settings to implement effective interventions. The report discusses modifiable risk factors, the economic impact of CVD, and essential knowledge for nurses, including understanding statistics, risk factors, and interventions related to diet, physical activity, and screening. Recommendations include regular screening, self-monitoring of blood pressure, and lifestyle changes. The report concludes that preventive services are crucial for reducing the burden of CVD and improving the health and economic well-being of older Australians, advocating for a proactive approach to healthcare management. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including past papers and solved assignments, to aid students in their studies.

Running head: CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
Summary of the analysis of the content in the poster
Cardiovascular disorders or CVD is found to be the leading cause of death as well as a
disease burden in the nation of Australia. The Department of health, Australia has stated that
the number of the people living with the condition is increasing (Davis et al., 2015). This
increase in number of affected individuals is mainly due to the factors that include ageing of
the population and improved medical treatment. Therefore, it becomes important for the
healthcare professionals to take up preventive strategies by which they can control the
disorder than using curative services for handling the disorder in the older patients. This
would help in saving huge resources without affecting the economy of the nation. Therefore,
this assignment would mainly act as a justification assignment that would include the
rationale of selecting this health risk among the old aged population. It will also show the
important points that the nursing professionals in the community settings should take in
consideration so that they can make the strategies successful.
Audience:
The audience of the poster would be the old population of the nation who are above
65 years of age and are vulnerable to the development of the cardiovascular disorders. This
poster would be also helpful for the nursing professionals to teach the old cohort about the
ways by which they can reduce the risks of being affected by the disorder.
Justification for the selection of the audience:
Cardiovascular disorders are considered to be the highest contributors to the disease
burden in the nation of Australia which is followed by dementia and that of COPD disorder.
This is especially a growing concern for the aged individuals because they remain at a higher
risk for the development of the disorder. Reports provided by the Heart Foundation shows

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CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
that about 490000 hospitalisation had taken place in the year 2014 to 2015 and the number
had increased by a percentage of 8% from 2004-2005 to 2014-2015 (Sparling et al., 2015).
Reports by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare had found that the percentage of being
affected by the disorder is 35% from the cohorts of the age 55-65. This percentage increased
to 64% among people aged 75 years and above. Therefore, people of the older age cohort are
more prone to this disorder. This shows how the older people who are 65 or above are at
increased risk for being affected by the disorder. Therefore, this audience needs to be
educated so that they can take preventive measures for the disorder and so this audience is
selected.
Included content and aesthetic features:
Cardiovascular disorders are mainly seen to occur because of greater number of
modifiable risk factors among old patients than the non-modifiable risk factors. If the risk
factors can be appropriately handled and lifestyle management are done properly, the risk of
development of this health disorder would invariably reduce. Nursing professionals should
aim in reducing the suffering of the patients and ensuring them a fitter life and healthy aging
strategies (vanRiet et al., 2016). These would help them to manage the modifiable risk factors
and accordingly protect them from the grasps of such chronic disorders. Illness associated
with CVD has significant impact on the Australian economy. This is mainly because of the
direct financial costs associated with the health system and this system includes higher
healthcare costs as well as higher demand on the healthcare services (Bonder et al., 2017).
These services include specialists, allied health professionals, general practitioners,
pharmaceuticals, administration and many others. Indirect costs are also seen to be associated
with the disorders like that of the productivity losses as well as the costs of the caregivers.
Welfare payments, forgone taxation revenue and different other costs like that of the
healthcare aids, equipment transport, accommodations, respites and other governmental

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CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
programs are the indirect costs associated with this disorder(Ding et al., 2015). Healthcare
expenditure faced by the patient and the families and the healthcare resources spent by the
organisations can easily be saved if the healthcare professionals providing service in the
home- community settings can undertake effective preventive measures and help in managing
the disease burden of the nation.
Nurses in the community health setting should first need to know the urgency of the
situation in order to understand how the health issue is affecting the health of the older
population and is affecting the economy of the nation. Then only, nurses will be able to
develop appropriate interventions for tackling the situations. The nurses first need to know
the statistics to develop an idea about the aspect of the emerging health issue (Bauman et al.,
2016). Following this aspect, the second criterion that the nurses need to know to tackle the
disorder is to develop knowledge about modifiable risk factors. These factors contribute to
the disorder and poor health condition of the patients (Winter et al., 2014). This will help in
developing ideas about how each of the risk factors causes cardiovascular disorders and how
such risk factors need to be handled with development of health literacy and effective health
behaviour change. Moreover, it is also significant that nurses should developed detailed idea
about the interventions like changes in food, physical activity, smoking, and drinking and
other factors. These would help them to advise and educate the patients and thereby ensure
best health of the patients. Moreover, effective screening sessions should be conducted and
people should be also made to know about the important of undertaking diagnostics tests
from time to time with regular monthly check-ups (Petite et al., 2015). All these interventions
would help in reducing the disease burden of the nation making the nation a healthier one.

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CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
Recommendation about risk reduction:
Bimonthly or tri-monthly screening sessions should be attended by the vulnerable
patients to identify the presence of absence of any risk factors of the disorder. They should
learn to self-measure the blood pressure levels and immediately contact healthcare centres
when abnormal results are found. They should also conduct blood tests to identify levels of
cholesterol and check BMI with healthcare experts to understand fitness status whether
obesity is present or not. They should also conduct overall health check up twice a year. They
should learn about the risk factors, worsening symptoms of heart issues and report them
immediately if such symptoms are felt.
Treatment for the audience:
The poster will be helping in developing a systematic procedure of developing
knowledge about the health risk of the patients of the older cohort. It will help them to
visualise the disease burden and understand the urgency. Following that, they would be able
to understand the contributing factors (Khan et al., 2015). Therefore, this would be helping to
understand the arenas where patients should be made careful about. Then, they would learn
about the interventions for preventative management and patient education (Stamatakis et al.,
2015). This poster would be an interesting image for developing knowledge to both the
patients and the nurses. This aspect would help in easy understanding of the situation and
help them to strategise their caring procedures.
Approach to treatment:
Curative services of the individuals already affected with the disorders are always linked with
physical and mental suffering of the patient, huge financial flow, longer stays at hospitals,
increased threats to life and many others. Healthcare organisations also face huge outflow of

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CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
healthcare resources. Preventative services are the idea approach where nurses need to
provide primary prevention. It is crucial for reduction of the burden of the disorder before it
affects the individuals and it is done by modifying the modifiable risk factors. The modifiable
targets should be physiological factors like “dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes
mellitus; behavioral factors including a poor diet, smoking, and physical inactivity;
and environmental and social factors such as air pollution, stress, and financial
inequalities”
Treatment strategies:
Educating patients about dietary factors that should be included in the meals is one
treatment procedures. It includes lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels, eating
plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, low fat dairy products, poultry fish and
legumes, non tropical vegetable oils, nuts. It also includes limited intake of sweetened
beverages, sweets and red meats, reducing saturated and Trans fat intake and consuming no
more than 2400 mg of sodium a day and reducing the sodium intake to 1500 mg a day
Physical activity recommendations should be also provided. Regular physical activity
reduces cholesterol and blood pressure thereby reducing chances of heart disorders. aged
adults should engage in aerobic physical activities 3-4 times in a week with each sessions
lasting for 40 minutes (consult with expert regarding capability). Moderate activities like
brisk walking, jogging to that of vigorous exercises like running or biking as per the
capability for reduction of cholesterol levels should be advised.
Consumptions of less alcohol and tobacco should be promoted. Reduction of the
number of cigarettes and drinking of alcohol to minimum and gradually quitting the practices
is best option. Undertaking quit tobacco planning with experts and undertaking motivational

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interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy to overcome such habits should be also
discussed with the audience.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it becomes clear that the cardiovascular disorder is one of
the most important health risks in the nation of the Australia especially among the cohort of
the older population. It is increasing the disease burden affecting the health economy of the
nation. It is important for the professionals to make aged people above 65 years aware of the
consequences of the disorder and provide preventive interventions. The healthcare workers
need to identify the risk factors and develop detailed knowledge about them. These would
help them in managing the risk factors in patients and educating patients to be able to take
proper self-care. Moreover, it is also important for the nursing professionals to undertake
screening programs to identify the venerable population who can develop the disorders.
Therefore, the poster, which is represented, gives a clear idea about the every important
aspect that aged people above 65 years and the community-nursing professionals need to
develop in order to ensure high quality care of the patients. This approach of the professionals
would be helping the nation to control the prevalence of the disorder in the older generation
and ensure better growth in economy and more quality health of older population.

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CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDER RISK FOR OLD AGED PEOPLE
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Bauman, A., Merom, D., Bull, F. C., Buchner, D. M., & Fiatarone Singh, M. A. (2016).
Updating the evidence for physical activity: summative reviews of the
epidemiological evidence, prevalence, and interventions to promote “active
aging”. The Gerontologist, 56(Suppl_2), S268-
S280.https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw031
Bonder, B. R., & Dal Bello-Haas, V. (2017). Functional performance in older adults. FA
Davis.https://books.google.co.in/books?
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n+old+people+in+australia&ots=lbwcI11IzR&sig=MnTgbvOIDddCe37-
Fk5U0v1IQ74#v=onepage&q=cardiovascular%20disorders%20in%20old%20people
%20in%20australia&f=false
Davis, C. R., Bryan, J., Hodgson, J. M., Wilson, C., Dhillon, V., & Murphy, K. J. (2015). A
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0033-7
Ding, D., Rogers, K., van der Ploeg, H., Stamatakis, E., & Bauman, A. E. (2015). Traditional
and emerging lifestyle risk behaviors and all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older

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1766.https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.2515
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psychology journal, 8(Suppl 2), 113.doi: 10.2174/1874350101508010113
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van Riet, E. E., Hoes, A. W., Wagenaar, K. P., Limburg, A., Landman, M. A., & Rutten, F.
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journal of heart failure, 18(3), 242-252.https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.483

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Winter, J. E., MacInnis, R. J., Wattanapenpaiboon, N., & Nowson, C. A. (2014). BMI and
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