NURS 6540 Week 8: Common Geriatric Syndromes-Skin Wounds

Get NURS 6540 Week 8: Common Geriatric Syndromes-Skin Wounds essay assignment help

NURS 6540 Week 8: Common Geriatric Syndromes-Skin Wounds essay assignment

NURS 6540: Advanced Practice Care of Frail Elders | Week 8 essay assignment

Pressure ulcers are treated in an estimated 2.5 million patients each year. Of this 2.5 million, approximately 60,000 patients die from resulting complications, making pressure ulcers a major concern for patients, caregivers, and health care providers (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2011). With such serious implications, it is essential that you, as the advanced practice nurse, are able to assess patient risk and implement appropriate prevention strategies for pressure ulcers and other skin wounds.

NURS 6540 Week 8: Common Geriatric Syndromes-Skin Wounds essay assignment

This week you explore types of skin wounds that commonly impact geriatric patients. You consider factors that contribute to the development of pressure ulcers and other skin wounds, as well as strategies for prevention and improvement in patients. You also examine the consequences of these wounds for frail elders.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, students will:

• Analyze factors that contribute to the development of new pressure ulcers in nursing homes
• Analyze strategies to increase the awareness among nursing home staff about the incidence of pressure ulcers in patients
• Analyze the diagnosis and treatment of skin wounds in frail elders
• Analyze factors that contribute to the development of skin wounds
• Analyze strategies for the prevention and improvement of skin wounds
• Evaluate the consequences of skin wounds for frail elders
• Evaluate patient care plans for skin wounds
• Analyze atypical presentations of disorders in geriatric patients*
• Analyze strategies used to overcome atypical presentations of disorders in geriatric patients*
• Evaluate the impact of dementia, delirium, or depression on frail elders*
• Evaluate geriatric patient care plans for dementia, delirium, or depression*
• Evaluate diagnoses for patients*
• Evaluate treatment and management plans*

*These Learning Objectives support assignments that are due this week, but were assigned in Weeks 5–7.

Discussion: Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities essay assignment

Nursing homes have become a viable option for geriatric patients who require routine care and need help performing basic activities of daily living, with about 3.3 million patients residing in nursing homes in the United States (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2013). While nursing homes provide care and services to patients, problems can arise resulting in reduced quality of care and, in some cases, illness and morbidity. The severe implications of pressure ulcers make them a major concern for elders residing in nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2013) estimate that 7.5% of nursing home residents have pressure ulcers and about 82,000 patients develop them each year. In your role as the advanced practice nurse, you must understand factors that contribute to the incidence of pressure ulcers in order to improve patient outcomes.

For this Discussion, you examine the prevalence of pressure ulcers in nursing homes and develop strategies for increasing awareness and reducing incidence.

To prepare:

• Review Chapter 32 of the Resnick text and Chapter 12 of the Holroyd-Leduc and Reddy text.
• Select four nursing homes in your community and/or neighboring communities. Research and locate reports on these nursing homes through organizations such as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
• Compare the four nursing homes you selected based on reported cases of the development of new pressure ulcers.
• Think about factors in the nursing home setting that contribute to pressure ulcer issues, such as patient activity, nutrition, or the number of staff available to care for patients.
• Research guidelines for the prevention of pressure ulcers. Think about how you might increase awareness among nursing home staff about the incidence and consequences of pressure ulcers in patients.

By Day 3

Post a brief description of the four nursing homes you selected from your community and/or neighboring communities. Compare these four nursing homes based on the reported cases of new pressure ulcers. Then, explain factors in the nursing home setting that might contribute to incidence of pressure ulcer issues. Finally, based on guidelines for the prevention of pressure ulcers, explain how you might increase awareness among nursing home staff about the incidence and consequences of pressure ulcers in patients.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one or more of the ways listed below. Respond to colleagues who selected different nursing homes than you did.

• Offer and support an alternative perspective based on your own experience and additional literature search.
• Validate an idea with your own experience and additional literature search.