Concept Map

from  Week 1: Discussion Board - Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

Oct 28, 2020 5:22PM

Raven Jinks

Comprehensive Geriatric   Assessment
Domain	Dimensions of assessment	Screening tool related to the domain(s)
Functional Health	Functional health domain can be described as the ability to perform self-care activities or activities of daily living(ADL) such as dressing, bathing, feeding, grooming, using the toilet, and feeding (Northey et al., 2018). Some of the dimensions of functional domain as outlined by Gordon include health perception, metabolic/nutritional, exercise/activity, perception/cognitive, stress coping and tolerance, among others. There are assumptions that cognitive function declines with age, thus it is essential to determine the baseline of an individual’s baseline cognition. Also, Northey et al. (2018) reported that 10% of adults above 65 years are malnourished. Exercises are used to improve posture, balance, gait and improve abilities to promote the abilities and condition of an elderly person to reduce the risk of falling	Barthel index is one of the screening tools used to assess function health based on the person’s ability to perform activities of daily living. This is an ordinal scale that measure functional independence in the domains of self care and mobility among the aged clients especially in rehabilitation settings. Barthel index exists in two versions with the original version having 10 items and the expanded version having 15 items (Mayoral et al., 2019). The 10-item version is the one that is widely used to evaluate independency in feeling, grooming, bathing, dressing, using toilet, returning to bed, going up or down stairs, among other. The screening tool is used to evaluate disability and monitor changes in disability over time. The scoring method of the tool takes into account whether an individual assessed received help while performing each task. The higher scores indicate high levels of independency. Barthel index is a reliable screening tool that leads to developing intervention that support independence and is widely used in rehabilitation centers (Mayoral et al., 2019).

 

References

Mayoral, A. P., Ibarz, E., Gracia, L., Mateo, J., & Herrera, A. (2019). The use of Barthel index for the assessment of the functional recovery after osteoporotic hip fracture: One year follow-up. PloS one, 14(2), e0212000.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212000 (Links to an external site.)

Northey, J. M., Cherbuin, N., Pumpa, K. L., Smee, D. J., & Rattray, B. (2018). Exercise interventions for cognitive function in adults older than 50: a systematic review with meta-analysis. British journal of sports medicine, 52(3), 154–160. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2016-096587

 

from  Week 1: Discussion Board - Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

Nov 1, 2020 6:47PM

Raven Jinks

Thanks Professor for your feedback, the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test-Geriatric Version is a useful tool in diagnosing patients with alcohol use disorders. The tool is often used in an outpatient setting to detect the risk of alcohol use or alcoholism in older adults. As the number of older adults in the United States escalates, the development of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence is expected to grow as well. The presence of an accurate and easy to use screening tool such as Short Michigan Alcoholism Screen Test to detect people in need of counseling can increase the number of older adults whose lives can be improved and even lengthened.

from  Week 1: Discussion Board - Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

Nov 1, 2020 8:34PM

Raven Jinks

Hi Carolina, thank you for your elaborate post this week on psychological health in the elderly patient. My assigned topic was functional health, which I did notice a few similarities and differences in the two topics. Functional health majorly focuses on the physical health of the elderly patient having the ability to complete daily task such as bathing, eating, and grooming. On the other hand, psychological health deals with mental health and cognitive function. There is a strong link between physical health and mental health. Being able to function competently in ADLs and IADLs is highly dependent on the patient’s psychological health (Kennedy-Malone et al., 2019). For instance, physical and mental health may impact each other were the elderly person may be suffering from a mental health issue that may cause he or she to forget to do a simple task such as showering or grooming.

The Mini-Cog test which you mentioned, is a simple tool that can measure cognitive function that is easy to use in a primary setting, which take only a few minutes. This tool can have a significant impact on future practice when dealing with clients with mental health conditions when differentiating between a variety of systemic conditions as well as a neurologic and psychiatric disorder.

 

Reference

Kennedy-Malone, L., Plank, L. M., & Duffy, E. G. (2019). Advanced practice nursing in the care of older adults (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.