Unit 3 Flashcards
The leading causes of visual
impairment are diseases that are common in older adults:
age-related macular degeneration
(AMD), cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy
●Period of inability to keep symptoms under control or reactivation of illness;
difficulty in carrying out everyday life activities
Unstable Phase
ACUTE ILLNESS Characteristics
● Usually self-limiting
● Responds readily to treatment
● Complications are infrequent
● After illness person returns to previous
level of functioning
compounds found in
yellow or dark leafy vegetables, as well as intake of vitamin E
from food and supplements, appears to lower the risk of cataracts
in women.
lutein and zeaxanthin
●Characterized by an exacerbation of illness symptoms, development of complications,
or reactivation of an illness in remission
Unstable Phase
s a disease of the retinal microvasculature characterized by increased
vessel permeability. Blood and lipid leakage leads to macular edema and
hard exudates (composed of lipids). In advanced disease, new fragile
blood vessels form that hemorrhage easily. Because of the vascular and
cellular changes accompanying diabetes, there is often rapid worsening of
other pathologic vision conditions as well.
Diabetic Retinopathy
Pharmacological mgt of delirium
antipsychotic drugs
Benzodiazepines
defines Disability as a multifaceted, complex experience that is
integrated into the lives of people with disabilities. The degree of the integration is influenced by
three disability-related factors:
(1) the effects of the disabling condition,
(2) others’ perceptions of disability, and
(3) the need for and use of resources by the person with a disability
Lutz and Bowers (2005)
Gradual recovery after an acute period and learning to live with or to overcome
disabilities and return to an acceptable way of life within the limitations imposed by the chronic condition or disability; involves physical healing,
limitations stretching through rehabilitative procedures, psychosocial coming-to-terms,
and biographical reengagement with adjustments in everyday life activities
Comeback Phase
recommended beginning 5 years
after diagnosis of diabetes type 1 and at the time of diagnosis of diabetes type 2.
Annual dilated funduscopic examination of the eye
Treatment Goals for dementia
- Slow the progressive deterioration
- Maintain current capabilities
- Delay nursing home placement or total dependence
diabeteic retinopathy Management:
- Constant, strict control of blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure and laser
photocoagulation treatments can halt progression of the disease. - Laser treatmen
- Annual dilated funduscopic examination of the eye
When lens opacity reduces visual acuity to 20/30 or less in the central axis of
vision, it is considered a
cataract.
Focus of Nursing Care: Provide direct care, collaborate with other health care
team members to stabilize patient’s condition
Crisis Phase
●Illness course and symptoms are under control as symptoms, resulting disability and
everyday life activities are being managed within limitations of illness; illness
management centered in the home
Stable Phase
Psychomotor activity of delirum dementia
Increased, decreased, or mixed
Sometimes increased, other
times decreased
Normal, may have apraxia or
agnosia
chronic confusion also called
dementia
refers to actions aimed at early detection of disease that can
lead to interventions to prevent disease progression
Secondary prevention-
acute confusion also
called
delirium
refers to those measures such as proper diet, exercise and
immunization that prevent the occurrence of a specific disease.
Primary Prevention
Disease that have a rapid onset and short duration
Examples: colds, influenza, gastroenteririts
ACUTE ILLNESS
Types of Hearing Loss
conductive and sensorineural.
The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) defines a person with a disability as
one who:
(1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life
activities,
(2) has a record of such an impairment, or
(3) is regarded as having such an impairment.
Characteristics of Chronic Conditions
- Managing chronic illness involves more than treating medical problems.
- Chronic conditions usually involve many different phases over the course of a person’s
lifetime. - Keeping chronic conditions under control requires persistent adherence to therapeutic
regimens. - One chronic disease can lead to the development of other chronic conditions.
- Chronic illness affects the entire family.
- The day-to-day management of illness is largely the responsibility of people with
chronic disorders and their families. - The management of chronic conditions is expensive.
- Chronic conditions raise difficult ethical issues for patients, families, health care
professionals, and society. - Living with chronic illness means living with uncertainty.
Seven Tasks of Persons with Chronic Illness
- Preventing and Managing a Crisis
- Carrying out prescribed treatment regimen
- Controlling symptoms
- Reordering time
- Adjusting to changes in course of disease
- Preventing social isolation
- Attempting to normalize interactions with others
50 -80% of all dementias
!Memory problem is the earliest sign
!Other cognitive functions are affected as the disease progresses
!Brain scans may be normal or show atrophy
!Diagnosis is made in the absence of any other disease that may explain the
dementia
Alzheimer’s disease
confusion that has often has an abrupt onset, over hours or days
and is associated with an identifiable risk factor or cause.
Acute confusion
Pharmacologic mgt of dementia
- Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors
a. Tacrine (Cognex)
b. Donepezil (Aricept)
c. Rivastigmine (Exelon)
d. Galantamine (Reminyl) - NMDA receptor antagonist
a. Memantine (Abixa)
Focus of Nursing Care:Provide guidance and support; reinforce previous teaching
Unstable Phase
Applying the Nursing Process Using the Phases of the Chronic Illness System
Step 1: Identifying Specific Problems and the Trajectory Phase
Step 2: Establishing and Prioritizing Goals
Step 3: Defining the Plan of Action to Achieve Desired Outcomes
Step 4: Implementing the Plan and Interventions
Step 5: Following Up and Evaluating Outcomes
occur in the elderly population and are thought to be due to the aging process. Examples of
age-related disabilities include osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and hearing loss.
Age-related Disabilities
Focus of Nursing Care: Provide direct care and emotional support to the patient
and family
Acute Phase
y involves abnormalities of the external and middle ear that reduce the
ability of sound to be transmitted to the middle ear. Otosclerosis, infection,
perforated eardrum, fluid in the middle ear, or cerumen accumulations cause
conductive hearing loss.
Conductive hearing loss
Types of Disability
Sensory Disabilities
Disabilities that affect the ability to speak or communicate
Diseases that are prolonged, do not resolve
spontaneously and are rarely cured completely
CHRONIC ILLNESS
reduces the risk of advanced
AMD and associated vision loss
high-dose formulation of antioxidants and zinc
is a term that describes a range of disturbances in cognitive functioning,
including disturbances in memory, orientation, attention, and concentration.
Other disturbances of cognition may affect intelligence, judgment, learning
ability, perception, problem solving, psychomotor ability, reaction time, and
social intactness.
Cognitive impairment
Glaucoma Treatment:
Beta blockers
laser surgery treatments (trabeculoplasty)
may be recommended for some types of
glaucoma.
o Surgery is usually recommended only if necessary to
prevent further damage to the optic nerve.
laser surgery treatments (trabeculoplasty)
given many labels: acute confusional state, acute brain syndrome,
confusion, reversible dementia, metabolic encephalopathy, and toxic psychosis.
Delirium
Focus of Nursing Care:
i. Provide home care and other community-based care to help patient and family
adjust to changes and come to terms with these changes
ii. Assist patient and family to integrate new treatment and management
strategies
iii. Encourage identification of end-of-life preferences and planning
Downward Phase
Final days or weeks before death; characterized by gradual or rapid shutting down
of body processes, biographical disengagement and closure, and relinquishment of
everyday life interests and activities
Dying Phase
Speech of delirum dementia
Often incoherent, slow
or rapid, may call out
repeatedly or repeat
the same phrase
Difficulty finding word,
perseveration
Attention of delirum dementia
Disordered, fluctuates
Generally normal but may have
trouble focusing
The Corbin & Strauss Chronic Illness Trajectory Model
- Pre-trajectory Phase
- Trajectory onset
3.Stable Phase - Unstable Phase
- Acute Phase
- Crisis Phase
- Comeback Phase
- Downward Phase
- Dying Phase
ffect the ability to learn, remember, or concentrate;
Learning disabilities
are a prevalent disorder among older adults caused by oxidative damage to lens
protein and fatty deposits (lipofuscin) in the ocular lens.
▪
Cataracts are categorized according to their location within the lens and are
usually
Cataract
It is an acquired, persistent impairment of intellectual function with compromise in multiple
spheres of mental activity
- Sufficiently severe to cause social or occupational disability
Dementia