Gerontology Case Study
Comprehensive Scholarly Paper
Gerontology is the scientific study of old age, the process of aging, and the particular problems of old people. With maturation the elderly suffer from age-related changes that effect their overall health and day to day living. Even those these changes provide limitations that can be lived with, these changes can also exacerbate many medical conditions. The elderly client I decided to evaluate, H.J.is a 76 year old african american female, that has a past medical history of chronic heart failure, myocardial infarction, hypertension, asthma, and renal mass. H.J.also has a past surgical history of a left mastectomy. She is retired and lives at home by herself and has one daughter. Some of her medical conditions are definitely effected by age as well as lifestyle. With age the heart and blood vessels undergo many changes. In the heart with age the SA node loses some of its cells, this may result in a lower heart rate. Abnormal rhythms such as atrial fibrillation, these arrhythmia are often due to heart failure. Hypertension in the elderly is also common. With an increase in age the systolic blood pressure can increase up to 20 mmHg on its own. “The baroreceptors become less sensitive with aging. This may explain why many older people have orthostatic hypotension”. With all of these heart changes it is important that the elderly are educated about lifestyle changes. While H.J was a patient in the hospital she ordered a heart healthy diet, which helps control blood pressure and cholesterol. The patient also had a history of a stroke, which also has to do with lack of blood flow to the brain. The prevalence of all these medical conditions increase with age when the elderly are not properly taking care of themselves. It is important to be eating a healthy diet, exercising, and refraining from the abuse of substances. By this client being a previous intravenous drug abuser she is even more
Gerontology is the scientific study of old age, the process of aging, and the particular problems of old people. With maturation the elderly suffer from age-related changes that effect their overall health and day to day living. Even those these changes provide limitations that can be lived with, these changes can also exacerbate many medical conditions. The elderly client I decided to evaluate, H.J.is a 76 year old african american female, that has a past medical history of chronic heart failure, myocardial infarction, hypertension, asthma, and renal mass. H.J.also has a past surgical history of a left mastectomy. She is retired and lives at home by herself and has one daughter. Some of her medical conditions are definitely effected by age as well as lifestyle. With age the heart and blood vessels undergo many changes. In the heart with age the SA node loses some of its cells, this may result in a lower heart rate. Abnormal rhythms such as atrial fibrillation, these arrhythmia are often due to heart failure. Hypertension in the elderly is also common. With an increase in age the systolic blood pressure can increase up to 20 mmHg on its own. “The baroreceptors become less sensitive with aging. This may explain why many older people have orthostatic hypotension”. With all of these heart changes it is important that the elderly are educated about lifestyle changes. While H.J was a patient in the hospital she ordered a heart healthy diet, which helps control blood pressure and cholesterol. The patient also had a history of a stroke, which also has to do with lack of blood flow to the brain. The prevalence of all these medical conditions increase with age when the elderly are not properly taking care of themselves. It is important to be eating a healthy diet, exercising, and refraining from the abuse of substances. By this client being a previous intravenous drug abuser she is even more
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