Care For Older People

Appropriate Demonstration of Skills to include. Responsibilities may include for older person. The duties of a carer can include for older person. Role of a carer in a nursing home for older person. Responsibilities may include. Exploration of the role of the Healthcare assistant in providing care for older people. Physical examinations for older person. Your personal development with older person. Healthcare assistant duties and responsibilities. Discussion of the issues related to an older person living with mental illness , dementia or any chronic illness. Mental illness to older person. Dementia for older person. Stages of Dementia. Chronic illness – diabetes for older person. Older people with diabetes to stay health and active are the following tips.

Discussion the role of the Healthcare assistant in promoting positive attitudes to ageing and of statutory and voluntary agencies in promoting the wellbeing of older people.

Exploration of the role of the Healthcare assistant in providing care for older people.

Discussion of the issues related to an older person living with mental illness, dementia or any chronic illness.

There are many theories of how and why we age. Those theories are still largely unproven. One such theory leads us to believe that the body is pre-programmed with a lifespan. Other theories suggest that cell replacement cannot keep pace with cell death, and the cell replacement process simply wears out. However, we do know that the metabolic rate slows down and body cells become less efficient, which affects the functioning of the body’s major organs. Our muscles, joints and ligaments become less supple, resulting in stiffness, and loss of abilities and agility. Most elderly people complain of some degree of arthritis. As the lubricant (synovial fluid) around the joints dries up, the cartilage becomes rough and flaky, causing both friction within the joints themselves and pain. The bones/joints become enlarged and swollen, often appearing misshapen or deformed. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease, which is caused mainly by ‘wear and tear’ of the joints. Wear and tear occurs with day-to-day activity during the lifetime of a human being. This explains why it is common in older adults. Apparently, three times more women than men are affected by the disease, which may be due to women’s longer lifespans or possibly because women do more physical work.

The lens of the eye is affected by loss of elasticity and reduced focusing power results in long-sightedness. The expiratory recoil in the lungs is also affected by loss of elasticity, which can affect breathing ability and overall fitness. Body temperature becomes difficult to maintain because of an inability to move around as much or a lack of income to afford adequate home heating. This can result in hypothermia, which can frequently have fatal consequences for older adults, particularly in the winter months. There is the ‘biological clock’ theory, which implies that ageing results from a definite timed programme. Our lifestyle can help to speed up or slow down the biological process but, mainly, it is predetermined for us. This eventually results in system failure, when the body finds it difficult to differentiate foreign ‘invasions’ of cells (bacteria etc.) from its own cells, causing tissue breakdown and, inevitably, death. Nutritional balance problems occur when we eat more than we need to and there is insufficient exercise. The theory is that if high energy foods are restricted but otherwise a healthy diet is maintained, lifespan can be increased (animal experiments show up to 50 per cent lifespan increase).