Running head: Health Promotion Assignment 1

Health Promotion Assignment

Cameron Yeong

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Gerontological Concepts NUR 4113

April 8, 2018

I Pledge

Diagnosis
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The patient in this teaching assignment is a 76 year old female who lives by herself.

Health issues include diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and a history of falls. This patient reports

that she has gradually had more and more issues with moving around freely. The patient also

reports increased stiffness of late related to her arthritis. The patient has a long history of falls

with the earliest being in 2001 and the most recent being in late 2015. With each incident, the

patient has sustained significant injury related to advanced age and osteoporosis. For this reason,

I chose risk for injury and fall as the primary nursing diagnosis. This is especially important to

this client as her ability to perform her job as a realtor, which requires a great deal of walking, is

central to her lifestyle and sense of fulfillment. in addition, falls for older adults pose a

significant health risk. With each fall, the patient needs longer to recover and is less able to

effectively complete activities of daily living. The chance of death or permeate debilitation is

high as this patient has a number of risk factors and comorbidities. In general, falls in older

adults is the leading cause for fatal injury in that demographic. In order for the patient to

effectively minimize the risk of falls, further education is necessary. As the patient lives alone,

she will need to either ask for help from family and friends or manage on her own to keep a

house and work environment that is as safe as possible.

Teaching

This particular patient has had a certain amount of teaching on the matter as a result of

her previous falls, but still does not practice all of the safety habits that could benefit her. For this

reason, I have decided to engage in additional teaching in order to maximize her health

outcomes. The preferred learning assessment that was preformed showed that the patient is

primarily an auditory learner. With that in mind, I have chosen to focus on description and

discussion as a primary tool, with some literature and imagery to supplement. The patient does
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keep a clean home for the most part, free of clutter that might trip her. She does however move

in unsteady and quick motions and does not always use her assistive device properly. In addition,

she does not necessarily use proper posture and focus on where she is going. The patient does

have a ramp that was installed at the entry to her house after the last fall, but she elects to use the

side entrance with stairs and struggles to use a handrail. The goal was to teach the patient better

everyday habits and have her verbalize daily skills to prevent falls. In addition, the seriousness

and reality of falls were impressed again. Using the following handouts as well as basic

conversational teaching, the patient was instructed in a number of ways to minimize her risk:

https://www.ncoa.org/resources/falls-prevention-fact-sheet/

https://www.ncoa.org/resources/fact-sheet-osteoporosis-falls-and-broken-bones/

https://www.ncoa.org/healthy-aging/falls-prevention/preventing-falls-tips-for-older-adults-and-

caregivers/take-control-of-your-health-6-steps-to-prevent-a-fall/

https://www.cdc.gov/steadi/pdf/STEADI-Brochure-CheckForSafety-508.pdf

The patient was reminded a number of times with different approaches how to use these

strategies. The patient was also given information from several studies that were to exemplify

how just one more ground level fall could impact her health. In addition to the short term

outcome of describing and demonstrating at least three fall prevention methods, a long term

outcome of remaining free of falls for the remainder of 2018 was suggested.

Evaluation

Within the timeframe, the patient was able to effectively demonstrate numerous

prevention methods such as wearing non-skid socks or shoes while ambulating, remembering to
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use her assistive device, and proper body mechanics among others. Thus far, the patient has

remained free of falls and is well on her way to meeting the long term goal. Most of the methods

implemented here were primary prevention, aimed at preventing injury. These healthy lifestyle

modifications can prevent health issues and incidents that may arise. In a sense, the evaluation

may also be secondary, or detection of issue based prevention. As a whole, this effort went well.

As with any project, additional preparation may have made the project more effective. I would

also like to have been more versed in the subject matter and have more official statistics and

tools to present to the patient. Lastly, it would have been a far different and possibly more

impactful experience if the patient were not part of my own family.

Summary

This assignment was an interesting one. In it I learned a great deal about myself and my

ability to teach. I also learned through the research much about what exactly a fall can do to an

older adult. I found it especially impactful as the patient was someone personally very close. In

the future, I hope to be even more capable when it comes to teaching and making plans for all

sorts of patients.
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Sources:

Kai-Huang, C., Hui-Min, H., Chun-Min, C., Herng-Chia, C., & I-Chen, L. (2017). The Long-

Term Trends of the Association Between Falls Among the Elderly in Taiwan and their

Utilization of Medical Facilities. International Journal Of Gerontology, Vol 11, Iss 3, Pp

161-165 (2017), (3), 161. doi:10.1016/j.ijge.2016.08.003

National Council On Aging. (n.d.). Falls Prevention: Fact Sheet. Retrieved April 01, 2018, from

https://www.ncoa.org/resources/falls-prevention-fact-sheet/