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Geriatric Assessment
The main areas that need to be assessed in this patient are cognitive and functional needs. Therefore, a comprehensive geriatric assessment tool is the most appropriate tool for this case study, as it will help evaluate the overall impact of environment stressors on patient’s health status.
This assessment should be conducted at the clinic and at patient’s home. This will help identify possible aggravating factors that are associated with patient’s health condition; and if possible, the patient caregiver (the daughter) should be present to point out her concerns (Mattace Raso, Polidori & Pilotto, 2014).
Evidence based research indicates that age as the best morbidity indicator; which determines the increased use of healthcare services. Most elderly patients are associated with multiple health issues and medications. Therefore, their psychosocial problems cannot be addressed adequately with a single visit to the healthcare providers.
It is important to evaluate patients function ability in their environment. This comprehensive geriatric assessment requires involvement of multidisciplinary team including the geriatrician, social worker and geriatric nurse. Other disciplines such as psychiatrist, dieticians, and pharmacists are involved after the assessment (Slee-Valentijn & Maier, 2014).
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This tool comprehensively analyses patient cognitive, hearing abilities, vision, mobility, and patient function analysis. The tool measures patient’s cognitive impairment, which facilitates early detection of psychosocial disorders and appropriate pharmacologic treatment. Additionally, the patient basic activity of daily living (BADL) should be assessed. These include tasks such as toileting, dressing, and feeding.
The patient also has difficulty in performing instrumental activities such as grocery shopping, driving and in management of her finances. Therefore, Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) assessment are vital as it will help identify the exact need, and extent of disease progression. The advanced activities of daily living (AADLs) measurement is essential as it helps in early detection of patient’s functional changes; and in early detection to disease progression and onset of disability (Mattace Raso, Polidori & Pilotto, 2014).
This geriatric assessment tool is chosen due to its unique ability to focus in geriatric patients with complex health issues, increased emphasis on patient function ability and integration of interdisciplinary healthcare team; thereby improving the patient quality of life. This covers the medical and social aspects that are nearly missed by other assessment tools (Rosen & Reuben, 2011).
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References
Mattace Raso, F., Polidori, M., & Pilotto, A. (2014). SS6.02: Comprehensive geriatric assessment: the methodology of geriatric medicine. European Geriatric Medicine, 5, S34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1878-7649(14)70070-1
Rosen, S., & Reuben, D. (2011). Geriatric Assessment Tools. Mount Sinai Journal Of Medicine: A Journal Of Translational And Personalized Medicine, 78(4), 489-497. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/msj.20277
Slee-Valentijn, M., & Maier, A. (2014). The impact of comprehensive geriatric assessment on final treatment decisions. Journal Of Geriatric Oncology, 5, S58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jgo.2014.09.098
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