Ageism its Impact and Proposed Interventions

Ageism, its Impact, and Proposed Interventions
Issue or concern common to my future practice setting: clarifying the proven myths amongst nurses and nursing students regarding geriatric patients
In this case, I would be seeking to further expand the knowledge of nursing care, with specific reference to geriatric residents (the vulnerable population), so as to decrease the myths amongst nurses and nursing students about geriatric patients. My specialty track is nursing education. It is important to note that the concern highlighted above impacts the system at not only the micro, but also the meso and macro levels.
At the micro level (i.e. individual level), myths amongst nurses and nursing students regarding geriatric patients impact patient general health and wellbeing. This is more so the case when it comes to their physical and mental health. As Lagana, Gavrilova, Carter, and Ainsworth (2017) point out, ageism could have extremely negative impact for seniors. In the words of the authors, one example of prejudice against seniors in healthcare settings is whereby “a doctor has lower expectations for a senior’s ability to recover and adjusts treatment plans accordingly” (Lagana, Gavrilova, Carter, and Ainsworth, 2017, p. 82). On this front, this bias could prevent older patients from accessing the level of care that would result in an improvement in their health and wellbeing. As a matter of fact, “there is ample evidence for ageism among physicians in diagnostic procedures, treatment of older patients, and interactions with older patients”(Ben-Harush, Shiovitz-Ezra, Doron, Alon, Leibovitz, Golander, Haron, and Ayalon, 2017, p. 40).
At the meso level (i.e. organizational level), myths amongst nurses and nursing students regarding geriatric patients could result in the creation of an organizational culture of older adults prejudice. In this case, older patients could be labeled child-like, cranky, and helpless. When ageism is institutionalized, methods and approaches that could have a positive impact on the efficiency of the entire system could be avoided in the mistaken belief that they are likely to be counterproductive when applied to older patients. A good example of this would be the adoption of new technology.
At the macro level (i.e. structural level), lengthy evaluation processes of the elderly could get in the way of effective operation of the entire system. It is important to note that typically, the evaluation of elderly patients is in most cases a lengthy process as a consequence of the higher number of diagnostic tests needed in most instances. A significant percentage of elderly patients happen to be cognitively impaired. For this reason, the symptoms presented are not often clear-cut. For instance, an elderly patient complaining of general weakness and ‘not feeling well’ could be suffering from a myocardial infarction. Yet another impact of ageism at the micro level would be misdiagnosis. A good example of a case of misdiagnosis would in this case be whereby dementia is diagnosed as depression. Discharge planning could also be impacted on this front as a consequence of delays that are largely avoidable and that are caused by ageism-related factors.
At the microsystem level, I would essentially promote the relevance of effective communication. Towards this end, the relevance of ensuring and maintaining good communication between long-term care facility staff members, physicians (primary care and ED), caregivers, as well as the patients themselves cannot be overstated when it comes to the further promotion of elderly patient outcomes. Effective communication would in this case be inclusive of appropriately referring concerns (i.e. between caregivers and physicians), seeking clarification (i.e. with regard to the aged person’s functional abilities), etc. This would have an impact on multiple fronts – with improvements on diverse fronts such as discharge planning (macro level) and elimination of wasted opportunities to improve efficiency (meso level).





















References
Ben-Harush, A., Shiovitz-Ezra, S., Doron, I., Alon, S., Leibovitz, A., Golander, H., Haron, Y. & Ayalon, L. (2017). Ageism among Physicians, Nurses, and Social Workers: Findings from A Qualitative Study. Eur J Ageing, 14(1), 39-48.
Lagana, L., Gavrilova, L., Carter, D.B., & Ainsworth, A.T. (2017). A Randomized Controlled Study on the Effects of a Documentary on Students’ Empathy and Attitudes towards Older Adults. Psychol Cogn Sci, 3(3), 79-88.