W6 Research

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PICOT Question Paper

The purpose of this paper is to explain different things that can be done in order to prevent infections in older adults during hospitalization. Older adults tend to have more of a risk to different things due to their multiple health complications normally. This also mean they tend to have more hospital visits. In these various settings, older adults are prone to being exposed to different types of pathogens which further weaken their immune system (Mody, 2007). Some of these things include pneumonia, UTI’s and skin infections.

Background

Overall older adults are more susceptible to infections due to their weakened immune system due to their different health morbidities. One that’s very common in this age group is pneumonia. This is an acute respiratory infection that causes infections in the alveoli and its surrounding tissues. This bacterial infection often leads to high fever, cough and shortness of breath. Since this is a bacterial infection, it is normally treated with antibiotics as well as vaccinations that help prevent future infections (Lim, 2020). These infections can become very life threatening, specially to the elderly population. Things such as incentive spirimeters also help these patients

Other common infections are UTIs for this population. One of the hallmarks for this infection in this age group is the mental alterations it causes, oftentimes these patients present signs of confusion. Frequently, mobility is also something that may effect this Rodriguez,- Manas, 2020). While being hospitalized these patients tend to be less active and more sedentary which also does not help with these infections. With the fact that they do not move as often their skin is also very susceptible to infections. Elderly patients have thin, soft tissue therefore making their skin very easily irritated which can make then susceptible to any infection (Laube & Farrel, 2002).

Significance in Nursing

Infection Control is definitely an important topic in nursing. Facilities nowadays have many protococals to prevent this but even then it still occurs therefore we must still do our part in improving this matter everyway possible. Patient safety should be in every nurses best interest. Giving these patients the best stay should be one of our highest priority. Infections can complicate any patients stay, something small can very easily escalate. Aside from our basic hand hygiene this goes furthet than that and actually encouraging patients to do activities in which their health will improve and keep them from worsening in any way (Katz, 2016). For example, for a pneumonia elderly patient as nurses we should encourage the use of an incentive spiromteter throughout their stay to keep those lung moving and getting rid of the mucus. This in the long run will help the patient come to a better health outcome at a quicker pace. No one enjoys being in the hospitals and with elderly patient one must encourage those extra steps to prevent them from worsening since they already have different health complications.

PICOT Questions

1. In older adults’ patients, how does an incentive spirometer influence the chance of pneumonia over the decrease in mobility in post-operative patients?

2. In older adult patients, how does holding your urine compare to the use of cranberry juice influence the prevention of UTI over hospital stays?

3. In older adult patients, how does bathing daily compared to twice a week influence in the prevention of pressure ulcers while being hospitalized?

Conclusion

Older adults are more susceptible to different infections due to their compromised immune systems. With this being said infection control is a crucial component to ensure the health of these patients does not get affected specially after procedures. As for pneumonia infections incentive spirometers help this patient tremendously by strengthening their lungs and making them work while their hospitalization stay. These elderly patients are also prone to UTI’s these infections can be aided by providing cranberry juice throughout their stay. These patients should be encouraged to bathe daily to prevent skin deterioration. These small but very significant little changes can make a very big different om these patients hospital stay.

References

Katz, M. J., & Roghmann, M. C. (2016). Healthcare-associated infections in the elderly: what's

new. Current opinion in infectious diseases, 29(4), 388–393. https://doi.org/10.1097/QCO.0000000000000283

Laube, S., & Farrell, A. M. (2002). Bacterial skin infections in the elderly: diagnosis and

treatment. Drugs & aging, 19(5), 331–342. https://doi.org/10.2165/00002512-

200219050-00002

Lim W. S. (2020). Pneumonia—Overview. Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences, B978-0-

12-801238-3.11636-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801238-3.11636-8

Mody L. (2007). Infection control issues in older adults. Clinics in geriatric medicine, 23(3),

499–vi. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cger.2007.02.001

Rodriguez-Mañas L. (2020). Urinary tract infections in the elderly: a review of disease

characteristics and current treatment options. Drugs in context, 9, 2020-4-13.

https://doi.org/10.7573/dic.2020-4-13