University Geriatric Nursing Practice: Obesity and Patient Care

This report provides a comprehensive overview of geriatric nursing practices, with a specific focus on the challenges and considerations related to caring for obese patients. The report begins with an executive summary outlining the key areas of discussion, including the role of geriatric nurses, staffing requirements, the importance of behavioral counseling, and the musculoskeletal concerns associated with handling overweight patients. The introduction sets the stage by defining geriatric nursing and highlighting the increasing prevalence of obesity as a major health concern among the elderly population. The discussion section delves into research findings on the relationship between BMI and staffing needs for activities of daily living (ADL), the impact of obesity on the elderly population, and the effectiveness of behavioral counseling for weight loss. The report also addresses the musculoskeletal risks faced by nurses when assisting obese patients. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the need for patient-centered care, appropriate training, and the implementation of safe patient handling practices. References to relevant studies are included to support the analysis.

Running head:GERIATRIC NURSING PRACTICE
GERIATRIC NURSING PRACTICE
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive summary
This literature review states the role of geriatric nurses in dealing with obese patients. Staff
requirement and importance of behavioural counselling for obese patients has been assessed.
Along with this, the main cause of obesity has been established. The major health concerns
related to musculoskeletal problems among the nurses while dealing with the overweight
patient has been discussed.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
Geriatric nursing is referred to as the care given to older people. In this paper, the
discussion will be done on the profession of geriatric nurses and their role in dealing with an
obese patient. It will shed light on the patient-centred care provided by the nurses to older
people. The requirement of staff for activities of daily living will be analyzed. The impact of
behaviour counselling will be determined. It will establish a relationship between the
accumulation of fat and unhealthy diet. Lastly, the musculoskeletal concerns among the
nurses while dealing with the obese patient will be evaluated.
Discussion
Recently, obesity is becoming a major health concern which leads to adverse health
effects. Accumulation of fats affects a person's lifestyle, and they fail to perform an adequate
activity. This paper aims to assess the relationship between increased body mass index and
number of staff assistance required for activities of daily living (ADL). To study this,
1,627,141 nursing homes are taken into consideration. Seven BMI categories from
underweight to obesity Class IIIB was considered. The study was done based on the logistic
regression model. In the final cohort, it was seen that 5.7% were underweight, 34.6% were
normal, while 29.0 were overweight. A significant percentage was classified under Class I
obese, Class II obese, Class IIIA obese, and Class IIIB obese. Women were more likely to be
in the underweight category. It was seen that race and age also contribute to the obese
character. It was concluded that increment in obesity leads to the fact that two-person needs
to assist with ADLs for mobility-related activities. Persons with a BMI of more than 40 kg/m2
needs two-person assistance. It is recommended to assist the person who tends to have a
small increase in BMI (Harris, Engberg& Castle 2018)

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Improvements in health care can increase life expectancy and influence the growth of
the elderly population. The elderly population is much prone to get affected by obesity due to
improper diet and inadequate physical activity (Heerman et al., 2017). This study focuses on
the risk factor and prevalence rate who are undertaking treatment in a geriatric outpatient
clinic. It has been seen that obesity is associated with other deadly diseases, including
diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. An analytical, descriptive and cross-sectional
hospital-based research design was structured to carry out the study. 126 elderly taking
treatment in geriatric outpatient clinics was considered for the study. The data collection
method was done by using three tools – health-promoting Lifestyle profile II (HPLPII),
socio-demographic and clinical data proposed interview sheets and Body Mass index. After
analysis, it has been observed that the prevalence rate is 33%. A strong relation between
unhealthy lifestyle, family history, inadequate physical activity, poor stress management was
obtained in this study. It was concluded that educating individuals and increasing awareness
will be a great initiative to prevent obesity and its complications (Shebl et al., 2015).
Recently studies are focused on obesity and its association with other diseases. This
study has shed light on the behavioural counselling of obese patients selected from primary
care. For controlled trials, search engines like PubMed, EMBASE and CINAHL were taken
under consideration randomly. The study was based on a few factors. The individuals from
primary care were divided into groups. One provided with behavioural counselling for greater
≥ 3 months, one with ≥6 months post-randomization follow up. From 3,304 abstracts, 12
trials were found. No studies suggest that primary care physicians (PCPs) follow CMS
guidelines. From the study, it has been concluded that behavioural counselling are highly
responsible for weight loss. PCPs are not concerned with providing behavioural counselling.
It has been seen that trained interventionist can counsel individuals with obesity via telephone
or in-person (Wadden et al., 2014).

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Obesity is highly related to musculoskeletal disorders among nurses. To assist the
obese patient's nurses role is highly appreciated. This study states the work-related
musculoskeletal hazards and the risk associated while handling an obese patient daily (Zhang
et al., 2018). This study has given a brief idea on the nursing interventions that will help to
handle the musculoskeletal disorders while dealing with obese patients. Out of 350
publications, 22 articles were selected based on exclusion/inclusion relevance. The result says
musculoskeletal risks like low back pain, strains, knee, shoulder and wrist injury are the main
concerns of the nurses. It is seen that the chance of musculoskeletal risk increases when the
obese individual is moved or lifted. So, lifting equipment and devices, no-lift policies,
ergonomic assessments and controls, safe patient handling, education and training on
handling on obese patients are recommended (Choi & Brings, 2016).
Conclusion
This paper concludes that geriatric care is a primary concern of all nursing units. The nurses
need to undertake a proper course to handle the situation that the elderly obese individuals
face. Patient-centred care for patients with obesity is necessary. A study concluded that an
individual with high BMI needs to be assisted by two-person for ADL. A relationship
between obesity and unhealthy diet has been established. It has been found that behavioural
counselling can be responsible for losing weight. Musculoskeletal issues of the nurses while
dealing with an obese person has been highlighted.

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References
Choi, S. D., & Brings, K. (2016). Work-related musculoskeletal risks associated with nurses
and nursing assistants handling overweight and obese patients: A literature
review. Work, 53(2), 439-448.
Harris, J. A., Engberg, J., & Castle, N. G. (2018). Obesity and intensive staffing needs of
nursing home residents. Geriatric Nursing, 39(6), 696-701.
Heerman, W. J., Jackson, N., Hargreaves, M., Mulvaney, S. A., Schlundt, D., Wallston, K.
A., & Rothman, R. L. (2017). Clusters of healthy and unhealthy eating behaviors are
associated with body mass index among adults. Journal of nutrition education and
behavior, 49(5), 415-421.
Shebl, A. M., Hatata, E. S. Z., Boughdady, A. M., & El-Sayed, S. M. (2015). Prevalence and
Risk Factors of Obesity among Elderly Attending Geriatric Outpatient Clinics in
Mansoura City. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(30), 136-147.
Wadden, T. A., Butryn, M. L., Hong, P. S., & Tsai, A. G. (2014). Behavioral treatment of
obesity in patients encountered in primary care settings: a systematic
review. Jama, 312(17), 1779-1791.
Zhang, Y., Duffy, J. F., de Castillero, E. R., & Wang, K. (2018). Chronotype, sleep
characteristics, and musculoskeletal disorders among hospital nurses. Workplace
health & safety, 66(1), 8-15.