Week 1 Discussion: Evaluation Plan

As geriatric patients age, their health and functional stability may decline resulting in the inability to perform basic activities of daily living. In your role as a nurse practitioner, you must assess whether the needs of these aging patients are being met. Comprehensive geriatric assessments are used to determine whether these patients have developed or are at risk of developing age-related changes that interfere with their functional status. Since the health status and living situation of older adult patients often differ, there are a variety of assessment tools that can be used to evaluate wellness and functional ability. For this Discussion, you will consider which assessment tools would be appropriate for a patient in a case scenario.

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources, considering how assessment tools are used to evaluate patients.
• Your Instructor will assign a case study to use for this Discussion. Review the case study and, based on the provided information, think about a possible patient evaluation plan. As part of your evaluation planning, consider where the evaluation would take place, whether any other professionals or family members should be present, appropriate assessment tools and guidelines, and any other relevant information you may wish to address.
• Consider whether the assessment tool you identified was validated for use with this specific patient population and if this poses issues. Think about additional factors that might present issues when performing assessments such as language, education, prosthetics, missing limbs, etc.
• Consider immunization requirements that may be needed for this patient.

By Day 3

Post an explanation of your evaluation plan for the patient in the case study provided, and explain which type of assessment tool you might use for the patient. Explain whether the assessment tool was validated for use with this patient’s specific patient population and whether this poses issues. Include additional factors that might present issues when performing assessments, such as language, education, prosthetics, etc. Also explain the immunization requirements related to health promotion and disease prevention for the patient.

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Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one or more of the following ways:

• Suggest alternative assessment tools and explain why these tools might be appropriate for your colleagues’ patients.
• Recommend strategies for mitigating issues related to use of the assessment tools your colleagues discussed.
• Explain other health promotion considerations for patients in this population or with related issues.

Sample 

Discussion- Evaluation Plan

The geriatric Assessment refers to the multidisciplinary and multidimensional assessment designed to evaluate the functional ability of the older patient’s cognition and mental health, physical health and the social and environmental circumstances. This will include carrying out an extensive review of the prescription including the use of vitamins, over the counter drugs, and herbal products including carrying out a review of the patient immunization status (Seematter-Bagnoud & Büla, 2018).  The assessment is very important since it is going to aid with the diagnosis of the medical conditions. Also it is important to realize the development of follow up plans and treatment plans, coordination in regard to management care and evaluation of the patient’s long term are needs.

Based on the patient current status, the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) tool was developed with aim of identifying and establishing areas that should be well managed.  The process was also not limited to the evaluation of the global health status of the patient but would also include Th identification of the different patient capacities, resources and preferences (Seematter-Bagnoud & Büla, 2018).  The CGA tool was very important as it also assisted the physical in selecting and prioritizing the therapeutic interventions which were best suited for the patient. Since the patient was in the long term care setting, it means that an interdisciplinary team was present to perform the CGA, which was undertaken by the nurse in the primary care settings. This type of assesment of the patient’s physical and mental health took a total of about 60 minutes. 

 Among the things that were evaluated using the CGA tool was the evaluation of the patient’s functionality like the way he was able to perform the activities of daily living (ADL).  Conducting an evaluation of the patient’s daily function was important in establishing areas and reasons for functional declines since this was a representation of the general problem. 

The functional factors were also looked into since they would help provide important information regarding the future trajectory and prognosis (Seematter-Bagnoud & Büla, 2018). Also with the initial  identification of the functional challenges  where the most important steps when it comes to the  interventions in the prevention of the loss of further body functions, help patient restore body functions and address the end needs for personal care and support. 

Lastly language barrier was not an issue since the CGA tool was designed in English and the language avoided medical jargon to ensure that the patient responded to the assessment as required. 

References

Seematter-Bagnoud, L., & Büla, C. (2018). Brief assessments and screening for geriatric conditions in older primary care patients: A pragmatic approach. Public Health Reviews, 39(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-018-0086-7

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