Nurses Must Have Advanced Knowledge in Caring Adult Patients

Debra Levine, a registered nurse, has lots of patients in the emergency department at St. Agnes Hospital. Mostly are 55 years old and above. Her skills limit her role in diagnosing, prescribing and developing treatment plans for her patients. Levine plans to work harder to fill in the boundaries in her job and become a solution to the growing needs for gerontological nurses. At the age of 25 it’s a dream come true for Levine because of her interest in the aging population and because of the new combined adult and gerontological nurse master’s program at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. According to U.S. census data, by 2050 there will be a probable increase in 65-and-older population. The expected increase is 87 million, 2 1/2 times the number in 2000. Whenever there is an increase in the aging population, the shortage of nurses also increases.

Barbara Resnick, a professor at the School of Nursing and co-director of the Adult and Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Program stated that nurses must have specific knowledge in caring older adults. Most of the adult nurse practitioners are categorized as gerontological nurses. This means that they only focus on adults whose age is 55 and above and they aren’t trained in the complex treatment of seniors. There must be a combined program that will allow graduates to care for anyone ages 16 and older. This should be developed in response to a recommendation by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. According to Resnick, this fall, about 40 students will be enrolled in the program. She aspires to enlarge the gerontological component to other areas of practice, such as acute care and family care.

In a study, older adults show different behaviour as indication of their illness. They tend to be more unclear in explaining their ailments. For instance, a patient may have acute appendicitis but he will just complain that he is constipated. A nurse must learn to pick up these unclear symptoms and he must know what will be the next symptoms to learn how to diagnose one’s illness. Adult patients also need more complex drug administration. The reason is that they often have to take lesser doses or multiple prescriptions. [via]