A Complete Health Assessment For Seniors
A Complete Health Assessment For Seniors. Health care professionals have their jobs cut out for them when dealing with assessing the health of a person aged 65 or older. There are multiple areas of concern when making an assessment of their health. The assessment will be focused on the person's ability to function in daily life. The areas most concerned with in daily function are: Physical ability to get around and manage daily life activities Cognitive and mental functioning including memory and the thinking processes involved in daily activities The psychological and social aspects of managing a normal quality of life in terms of engaging in and functioning in the activities one normally does during daily routines When making an assessment of an elderly person's ability to function there are multiple sites to consider when determining the ability to function. These sites may include but are not limited to (depending on lifestyle), patient's home, assisted-living facility, hospital, and doctor's office. These are the locations that will be affected most by the person's ability to function. Home is usually the preferred location for the majority of the daily functions, but there are those who upon assessment do perfectly well with a combination of assisted-living, or healthcare aid in combination with living at home. When the person is unable to function in a capacity to get to the doctor's office or hospital then it is time to consider that, that location (home) is no longer a viable option. The goal of assessment is to determine function with the intention promoting wellness and encouraging as much independent function as possible. The assessment categories may cover the following: Physical functions: ability to walk, transfer objects and move from place to place, and balance. Ability to maintain daily nutrition, vision and hearing Ability to think, understand concepts and to remember activities (memory and executive function) Psychological function Social function Quality of life Completion of a comprehensive Assessment for geriatrics
Ability of the elderly driver to perform safely. During the physical assessment there are several areas that will be looked at regarding the activities applied to daily living, they are bathing, bathroom activities, self-dressing, body grooming, transferring from bed to chair and back, and also feeding of oneself.
Other assessment areas include: Household tasks such as the ability to keep the living areas clean and sanitary, being able to use a telephone, the ability to do laundry, prepare meals, complete household tasks such as cleaning, the ability to manage finances, do shopping, take medications properly, and being able to manage transportation needs.
The mobility assessment will include functioning regarding walking from room to room, being able to climb any necessary stairs, and the ability to walk around outside. There are many factors that can have an impact on an older person's ability to self-feed. T hese factors are: depression, financial hardship, inability to physically feed oneself, and not having the ability to shop or to make meals. Sometimes poor vision contributes to these factors or not being able to be mobile. Healthy Aging Issues Today
02/07/2012 |
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