Health Promotion & Disease Prevention

in Older Adults

Role of Nurses in Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Nurses play critical roles in health promotion and prevention of diseases. These roles include patient education, whereby nurses furnish patients with concrete details of their health, the proposed treatment interventions, and strategies to avert potential complications. During patient education, nurses inform patients of the danger associated with certain behaviors such as consumption of junk foods, cigarette smoking, alcoholism and a sedentary lifestyle. They also educate patients on efficient disease prevention tactics. These factors are integral to promoting health and preventing diseases.

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Importantly, nurses work closely with patients providing them with anticipatory guidance on immunization, medications, physical activity, safety, nutrition, and dietary information. Nurses have realized that the involvement of families in care processes helps to improve the outcome of care (Yousefi, Ziaee & Golshiri, 2019). Therefore, they integrate families into the treatment plan as a way of promoting moral and social support to patients, subsequently preventing complications and improving care outcomes.

Screening Tests for Older Adults

The three main screening procedures that must be performed in elderly persons are blood pressure tests, diabetes tests, and cholesterol tests. A blood pressure test is a relevant procedure for older persons due to their elevated risk of hypertension associated with aging. Elderly persons also present with a greater risk of diabetes (Firdaus, 2020). Elevated blood sugar levels in this population are associated with insulin resistance and impairment of the pancreatic islets. Cholesterol levels tend to increase with age. Since cholesterol increases a person’s risk of cardiovascular diseases, older adults should undergo a cholesterol screening test (Michel & Walston, 2018). This data helps to initiate intervention to lower cholesterol levels and improve the cardiovascular health of the person.

End-of-life Documents

During the care of older adults, the nurses must be familiar with the living will, the advance directive, and healthcare directive all of which guide how the patient would like to be taken care of during the end of life (Town & Hoffman, 2020). The living will provide information concerning the types of treatment the client would want to be provided at the end of life (Town & Hoffman, 2020). On the other hand, the advance directive guides how the clients intend medical decisions to be made in case of terminal illness and loss of consciousness. The healthcare directive provides information on how the client wishes to be treated by other people during the end of life (Town & Hoffman, 2020). Since these documents are legally recognized, they enable the nurse to avoid legal implications by complying with the patient's needs and interests.

References

Firdaus, U., (2020). BATES’ Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking. Wolters Kluwer India Pvt Ltd,

Michel, J. P., & Walston, J. D. (Eds.). (2018). Oxford textbook of geriatric medicine. Oxford University Press.

Peckham, S., Hann, A., Kendall, S., & Gillam, S. (2017). Health promotion and disease prevention in general practice and primary care: a scoping study. Primary health care research & development, 18(6), 529-540.

Town, L., & Hoffman, K. K. (2020). Advance Directives, Durable Power of Attorney, Wills, and Other Legal Considerations. Omega Press.

Yousefi, H., Ziaee, E. S., & Golshiri, P. (2019). Nurses’ consultative role to health promotion in patients with chronic diseases. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 8.