Nursing Project Proposal: Dehydration Awareness Program for Elderly

This nursing project proposal addresses the critical issue of dehydration among the elderly population, particularly those living at home. It highlights the physiological factors contributing to dehydration in older adults and its potential health consequences, referencing data from the World Health Organization and other studies. The project aims to increase awareness of hydration importance and risks, promote fluid consumption through tailored strategies, and align with the NHS Outcomes Framework by preventing premature death and improving quality of life. The proposal suggests a reminder device to prompt fluid intake, supporting the need for interventions to improve hydration habits and overall well-being in the elderly. Desklib provides students access to solved assignments and past papers.

Project Proposal Briefing Paper (500 words)
Field of Nursing
(Adult, Child,
Learning Disability
or Mental Health).
Proposing awareness and strategic programs focusing on elderly people
living in their own home who are dehydrated.
Proposed
Project/Innovatio
n.
Contextualize the
choice & clearly
define the focus of
the project
proposal that has
been generated
and informed from
your area of
practice?
(For example,
what is the
proposed project
and where are
you proposing the
project could be
implemented)?
Include supporting
literature/evidence
in this section.
(Suggested 200
words).
Dehydration is a health condition in which the amount of fluid or water
reduced and decreases the functioning of the body. This condition may
vary from mild, moderate to severe due to which affected people may
suffer from various health conditions (Shimizu et al., 2012). Elderly
population is affected from inadequate hydration condition majorly due
to their physiological inabilities and aging process. It has been observed
through several researches that aging decreases the sensation or urge to
consume water due to which the chances of older population to suffer
from several diseases and disorders increases such as diabetes,
thrombo-embolic complications, low blood pressure, medicinal
intoxication, urinary tract infections, kidney failure, Alzheimer’s disease
as well as delirium (mental/cognitive dysfunction) (Fortes et al., 2015). It
has been observed through the data provided by the World Health
Organization (2014) that more than 75% of the elderly people admitted
to the healthcare facilities reported the signs and symptoms of
dehydration and associated complications and the fatality may rise up to
50% in severe conditions. Therefore, a proper hydration strategy and
promotional program should be proposed so that hydration could be
reinforced in elderly people (Shimizu et al., 2012). This proposal is
appropriate for elderly population as it has been observed that they tend
to forget their medication or diet regime hence, the proposal of reminder
device to prompt elderly population has the ability to increase the
awareness about the hydration program.
Project
Aim/Objectives
.
The project aim
should be clear
and precise and
inform the marker
about the main
intention of the
project.
The objectives
should be more
specific and
provide the marker
with an insight into
what your project
sets out to
achieve. Try to
ensure the
objectives are,
The aim of the proposed project is:
 To increase the awareness about importance of hydration among the
elder population
 To make the elder population aware of the risk of dehydration due to
their physiological conditions
 To increase the fluid consumption in elder population by making
hydration strategies
 To make elderly people living alone aware with the strategy so that
they can increase their fluid consumption

Specific,
Manageable,
Achievable,
Realistic and Time
scaled (SMART
Objectives).
(Suggested 50
words).
Rationale.
Create a sound
and coherent
argument for an
appropriately
selected work-
based project.
The rationale
should provide an
explanation as to
why you have
chosen to focus
your project on a
particular area of
practice within
your own field of
nursing. For
example, what
has caused you to
identify this area
of practice? The
rationale provides
the opportunity to
put your argument
forward to support
the proposed
project.
Include supporting
literature/evidence
in this section.
(Suggested 200
words).
Dehydration is a health condition which is generally not considered or
cared by the sufferer or people around them. There are statistical data
provided by World Health Organization (2014) determined that more
than 75% of the elderly people admitted in the healthcare facility
presented the symptoms of dehydration and 30% of the people are older
than 65 years. Extreme cases of dehydration could lead to fatal health
consequences and ultimately could lead to increase the morbidity or
mortality rate. Frangeskou, Lopez-Valcarcel and Serra-Majem (2015)
mentioned that people generally avoid their symptoms of dehydration
which make them susceptible to several diseases and disorders affecting
their physical, mental and cognitive strength. Therefore, it has become
an importance aspect and awareness regarding dehydration should be
spread among the most susceptible age group so that they could be
prevented such adverse condition. In this course, providing them with
awareness program, promotional strategies and interventions could
increase their fluid uptake (Kinoshita et al., 2013).
Potential /
Intended
Outcome.
How will your
project
proposal/innovatio
n meet the NHS
Outcomes
This project helps to achieve the NHS outcome framework as it increases
the chances of achieving the entire framework domain such as
preventing people from premature death, increasing the quality of life to
impart long term benefits, providing people with proper environment and
education so that they can protect themselves or avoid the adverse
consequences (NHS, 2018).

Framework?
Include supporting
literature/evidence
in this section.
(Suggested 50
words).
Reference List.
(Key literature /
evidence cited
within the Project
Proposal Briefing
paper only).
Please note: The
accompanying
reference list is
not included in the
word count for the
Project Proposal
Briefing paper.
Fortes, M. B., Owen, J. A., Raymond-Barker, P., Bishop, C., Elghenzai, S.,
Oliver, S. J., & Walsh, N. P. (2015). Is this elderly patient
dehydrated? Diagnostic accuracy of hydration assessment using
physical signs, urine, and saliva markers. Journal of the American
Medical Directors Association, 16(3), 221-228.
Frangeskou, M., Lopez-Valcarcel, B., & Serra-Majem, L. (2015).
Dehydration in the elderly: A review focused on economic
burden. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 19(6), 619-627.
Kinoshita, K., Hattori, K., Ota, Y., Kanai, T., Shimizu, M., Kobayashi, H., &
Tokuda, Y. (2013). The measurement of axillary moisture for the
assessment of dehydration among older patients: a pilot
study. Experimental gerontology, 48(2), 255-258.
NHS. (2018). NHS Outcomes Framework (NHS OF) - NHS Digital. Retrieved
from https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/ci-
hub/nhs-outcomes-framework
Shimizu, M., Kinoshita, K., Hattori, K., Ota, Y., Kanai, T., Kobayashi, H., &
Tokuda, Y. (2012). Physical signs of dehydration in the
elderly. Internal Medicine, 51(10), 1207-1210.
World Health Organization. (2014). Retrieved from
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/104772/97892415
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