I think that the most important thing that we learned about older adults this semester has to do with their medications. Many older adults are on a lot of different medications for various reasons. These medications can have side effects on the patient or may work differently due to their older age. The side effects of a medication may also cause a prescription cascade to begin and this can be problematic for the older adult, making them be on unnecessary medications. As a future nurse, I now know how important it is for us to be checking the patient’s medication list and going through it to see the possible side effects and educate them on the proper use and avoiding certain over-the-counter products.
We also discussed this semester the common aging changes that can occur in the older adult. One of the important age related changes that nurses should be watching is the patient’s respiratory system. For example, here is a high risk for older adults to develop respiratory infections as they are not able to clear the mucus that accumulates. The cartilage hardens in the respiratory system which leads to decreased breathing. I think that these were important for us to learn because we should be aware of these if we are ever taking care of patients that are of an older age. Since these are common changes within the older adult, there may not be a need for this to be fixed or treated, as that would be unnecessary.
Overall, I think that the information that we have covered in this class about the older individual was extremely important and I will make sure to take this information with me into my future nursing career so I am able to deliver the best care to my patients possible.
