ESSAY: Assessing and Planning Care for an Elderly Person

In order to gain an insight into the world of elder adults, it is important to understand how they view themselves and the values they hold. Additionally, it is important to assess and determine his/her needs and establish appropriate interventions for this individual.

Choose an older adult to interview. This cannot be a patient in your clinical setting. You can use a friend, family member, or co-worker. The older adult should be 65 years or older. Use the format provided to record the responses. A list of questions is available for you to start with. Include 2–3 questions of your own to get a complete picture of the older adult. Summarize your findings.

After gaining permission, conduct a physical and mental functional assessment of the older adult you have chosen. Review your readings for the process of functional assessment.

Make use of the tools discussed this week to complete a comprehensive assessment of your patient. Search the Internet for resources on these tools.

Tinetti Balance and Gait Evaluation
Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living
Assessment of Home Safety
The Barthel Index

Make sure the older adult is clearly identified on the tools. Do not include their name, but do include professional or other designation, and age. Your name should also be identified on the tool. (This should be a part of your Appendix.)

Compare and contrast the age-related changes of the older person you interviewed and assessed with those identified in this week’s reading assignment. During this data analysis process provide at least 4–6 preliminary issues that you have identified. Identify three alterations in health that you would propose and describe them. Identify a minimum of three comprehensive interventions for each problem.

Make sure that you integrate personal cultural awareness and cultural competency.

Paper should be 5–6 pages, not including the questionnaire or tools used. These should be attached as an Appendix. Remember to use headings to identify the different sections in your paper.

ANSWER

Assessing and Planning Care for an Elderly Person

Elderly persons, being one of the most susceptible groups of the society have higher possibilities of developing chronic diseases, infections, as well as disabilities. Therefore, most health and social care policy have increasingly put more emphasis on older people in the united states. These policies impact significantly on elderly persons, especial on their escalating need for home care. However, changes in the scope and nature of health provision by care providers as well as increased pressures for cost control have severely affected service delivery and management (Fillenbaum, 2013). Many older persons have experienced means-tested for care services that have traditionally been delivered free of charge. Care planning for the elderly calls for sensitivity, creativity, and clinical judgment. Besides, it requires the care provider to understand subtle cues from the elderly person as well as their family regarding their readiness to embrace physical and mental functional assessments. It also requires relevant skills to translate the assessment results to useful information and problem statements, which ultimately help in determining service needs. The purpose of this assessment is to choose an older adult to interview as well as conducting a physical and mental functional evaluation of the person based on tools discussed in class.

While research indicates that most elderly people are healthy and function normally, it is inevitable that issues relating to their health and independence will surface as they grow older. Eldercare usually calls for a multi-disciplinary technique that incorporates various aspects of life like healthcare, transportation, finances, daily activities, emotional, and social well-being.

To ensure the provision of highest quality of care for the longest time possible, it is fundamental that the elderly people in the society together with their loved ones initiate a discussion to address the topic of future care (Fillenbaum, 2013). This approach needs to an emphasis on the older person’s desires, hopes, as well as short and long-term objectives. In addition, it focuses on their needs and abilities and identifies a variety of resources that will help to address their current and evolving needs.

Factors Determining Success of the Assessment To implement an advanced eldercare plan, the care providers need to talk with the person in order to understand their feelings and needs related to their age, as well as their desires and wishes. It is also vital to recognize the older adult’s right to come up with their own decisions related to their care (Pilotto et al., 2017). The processes of having a dialogue to discuss the elder’s needs may progress at ease or may pose a challenge depending on the relationship (trusting and open or strained and distant) among the involved…