AGING

According to WHO, health is a "state of complete physical, mental and social".

Aging is a "process normally associated with impaired progressive responses the adaptive homeostatic body, leading to changes in the structure and function of the different systems. Also increases the vulnerability of individual to environmental stress and the disease".

Aging can be seen from three points: biological, social and psychological.

Within the biological standpoint, there are changes in: cells, skin and appendages, bones, muscles, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, genito-urinary system, endocrine system, immune system, in the sense organs and nervous system.

In this case I decided to focus on the integumentary system and explain the changes it undergoes.

CHANGES IN THE INTEGUMENTARY SYSTEM

The skin due to its large size, is the organ most susceptible to environmental damage, especially by exposure to sunlight. Due to this exposure to the sun, appears the liver spots.

Over time, skin gets thinner, drier, more transparent. Loses elasticity, wrinkles and has a yellowish color.

In the epidermis: keratinocytes lose their polarity. There is also a decrease in the number of melanocytes and no increased risk of dysplasia.

In the dermis: there is a loss of collagen that leads to wrinkles. There is also a loss of elastin, which produces an increase of glycosaminoglycans which lead to the formation of a pseudo elastin that is what gives yellowish color to the skin.

In the hypodermis: the amount of fatty tissue so it loses dense.

Hair follicles, eventually lose density and atrophy. Also pigment production lost due to the decreased number of melanocytes. Some women experience the growth of facial hair, particularly after menopause.

The nail growth decreases, turning these more opaque, hard and thick. This is due to an increase of keratin.



            ROSACEA                                                                          LIVER SPOTS

   

As the skin is more sensitive, is more exposed to the appearance of ulcers, inflammation and infection.

Finally, a video of the WHO, which I found very interesting because I totally agree with the message of healthy aging.

I think that aging is natural, that at one time or another will affect us, because time passes for everyone. We must also think that from birth we're older, that's what life. Born, grow and die.

There should be no rejection or stereotypes, and that aging does not make us different.

We will all grow old, but we will decide as. if we live a life saluble from the beginning ,our life expectancy should be greater.

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Bibliography:

1. Introducción al concepto de envejecimiento. Disponible en: http://www.ujaen.es

2.Algunos cambios asociados al envejecimiento. Disponible en:

 http://escuela.med.puc.cl/publ/manualgeriatria/PDF/CambioEnvejec.pdf

GERIATRIC NURSING

According to WHO,"nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care dispensed to people of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or not, and in all circumstances. Includes health promotion, disease prevention and HIV care for sick, disabled and terminally ill people".

It is important to know the difference between geriatrics and gerontology.


Geriatrics: "The science that studies the aging process in general as well as biological changes, psychological and social changes that occur in old age."

Gerontology: "The branch of medicine that studies the acute and chronic diseases in older patients in its clinical, therapeutic, preventive and social".

Gerontological Nursing is a specialty that encompasses the assessment of the needs of the elderly, planning and management of care to meet their needs as well as the evaluation of the effectiveness of such care in achieving and maintaining a level wellness consistent with the constraints imposed by the aging process.

For some time, there has been an increase in life expectancy due to the reduction of mortality and birth rates.

All this leads to increased social problems, economic and health.

If this continues, the results could prove to be the following:

• Not all older people have the same degree of health, can be classified into:

	Healthy older person	Sick older person	Frail elderly	Geriatric patient
Concept	Advanced age and absence of disease.	Healthy elderly with an acute illness.	Old age and with several underlying conditions that are compensated. It is independent but has a high risk of being dependent.	Elderly with chronic diseases who become dependent. They often have mental and social problems.
Instrumental activities of daily living.	All independent	All independent	Dependent to some	Dependent to some
Basic activities of daily living.	All independent	All independent	All independent	Dependent to some
Illness behavior.	Low tendency to dependence	Low tendency to dependence	High tendency to dependence	Tendency to increased dependence
Probability of geriatric syndromes.	Low	Low	High	Very high

Bibliography:

1. Robles Raya MJ, Miralles Basseda R, Llorach Gaspar I, Cervera Alemany AM. Definición y objetivos de la especialidad de Geriatría. Tipología de anciano y población diana. En: Tratado de geriatría para residentes. Madrid: Sociedad Española de Geriatría y Gerontología (SEGG); p.21-32.http://www.imsersomayores.csic.es/documentos/documentos/segg-tratado-01.pdf

2. Organización mundial de la salud: Temas de salud: El envejecimiento:http://www.who.int 

3. Cortés Rubio JA, Méndez-Bonito gonzález E, Koutsourais Movilla R, Utrilla Moro J, Macias Rodríguez J, Casado Aguado MA, Rozas Barrera Z. ¿Cuál es la prevalencia de ancianos de alto riesgo en atención primaria?. Aten Primaria. 1996; vol.18 núm 6: 18:327-31. Disponible: http://www.elsevier.es/es/revistas/atencion-primaria-27/cual-es-prevalencia-ancianos-alto-riesgo-atencion-14365-originales-breves-1996

4. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Pubmed: Factors associated with functional status in a population aged ≥75 years without total dependence: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22342046

WELCOME! =)

Welcome to my blog!

This is a blog in which I will deal with issues related to elder care by nurses, this course having scientific evidence.

This is a blog focused on health personnel, but I think many things can also be of interest to anyone wanting to expand their knowledge.

I hope you will find interesting and serve.

Thanks in advance for reading.