Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Geriatrics
Exam I- Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Geriatrics | deals with physiology of aging, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases affecting the aged |
| Gerontology | deals with aging in the broadest perspective; the study of growing older |
| Aging | process of growing older; lifelong; perceived by many as deterioration |
| Ageism | a predjudice against people because they are old |
| Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) | the kinds of things you do every day; e.g. brushing teeth, feeding yourself, going to bathroom, grooming, washing |
| Advanced Directives | spell out a patient's wishes; define diagnostic and therapeutic treatment; a patient's consent achieved before it is necessary |
| Age Discrimination | unfair treatment of people because of their age |
| Agitated | excessive restlessness; non-purposeful events; associated with anxiety |
| Alzheimer's | progressive degenerative disease of the brain; irreversable dementia that becomes chronic and progressive; due to atrophy of the frontal and occipital lobes of the brain; patients lose their cognitive abilities; confirmed at autopsy |
| Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) | agency that coordinates and provides a wide range of community services for people sixty years or older |
| Burnout | physical and mental relief for family members after they have "lost it'; when stress has overwhelmed the caregiver; physical and mental exhaustion; physical and emotional illness; can't cope anymore |
| Cataract | crystalline lens within the eye becomes opaque; can cause blindness |
| Chronic | persisting for a long time; on-going |
| Cognition | mental process of knowing, remembering, relating and connective thinking; the ability to process information |
| Confusion | not being aware of or oriented to person, place, or time; can be acute or chronic; often seen with elderly |
| Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) | stroke; sudden loss of consciousness resulting when there is a rupture or an occlusion of a blood vessel in the brain causing a lack of oxygen flow to that area |
| Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD) | very debilitating and progressive and can be a fatal lung disease; irreversible |
| Contracture | a shortening of a skeletal muscle making the muscle function resistant to shortening; seen a lot with stroke victims; joint actually freezing- no movement in joint |
| Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) | the heart's inability to work as an efficeint pump |
| Cerumen | ear wax |
| Arteriosclerosis | the loss of elasticity in blood vessels |
| Atherosclerosis | the accumulation of fatty plaque build-up in the blood vessels |
| Aphasia | absence of or the inability to communicate |
| Dysphagia | difficulty swallowing |
| Dementia | a neurological condition with cognitive defects (forget name, where they are, president, etc.) |
| Depression | mental state characterized by feelings of sadness, to feelings of despair and discouragement; can be mild to major types of symptoms |
| Decubitus Ulcer | a pressure sore; the skin acually breaks down (like bed sores) |
| Diverticulosis | an out-pouching of the structure of the colon; no inflammation or irritation |
| Diverticulitis | an inflammation of the out-pouches (when the stool and seeds [from food] become trapped) |
| Demographics | statistics about population, age, sex, race, education, birth, death |
| Ethics | the action and beliefs approved by a particular group of people; standards of conduct; moral judgment; philosophy |
| Gray Panthers | a group of seniors that have economical and political influences in the U.S. like AARP (American Association of Retired People) |
| Extended Care | patients who require long-term custodial or medical care |
| Holistic Health | looking at the person as a whole being; physically, psychologically, sociologically, and spiritually; helps the client to achieve harmony |
| Homebound | unable to leave the home setting due to physiological or psychological reasons |
| Homecare | patient care in the patient's home setting; done by family, friends or professionals |
| Home Health Care | an agency that provides home care services |
| Hospice | a program that provides care for the terminally ill; preparing the patient for death with dignity; also help the family of the patient deal with issues of death and dying |
| Hypertension | high blood pressure |
| Incontinence | the inability of voluntary control to keep bodily wastes within the body (bowels or bladder); either or both |
| Life Expectancy | the number of years an average person is expected to live |
| Medicare | started approximately 1965; a healthcare that is provided to people over the age of 60 or 65 that is federally funded through the social security administration |
| Medigap | a supplemental insurance; it must be purchased; usually covers what Medicare doesn't cover |
| Morbidity | the number of people affected by a particular disease or disorder |
| Mortality | the incidences of death or the number of people who died from a particular disease or disorder |
| Ombudsman | an advocate for patients' healthcare that is concerned with the quality of care and the quality of life of the individual; an advocacy role of state agencies concerned with the quality of life and the quality of care |
| Osteoarthritis | can get it at any age; can be from injury; wear and tear disease; articular cartilage at the ends of bones deteriorates |
| Parkinson's Disease | neurological disorder that affects a person's cognitive ability; causes uncontrolled motion; ticks or tremors; Michael J. Fox |
| Pruritis | severe itching |
| Respite (care) | physical/mental relief for family members caring for a dependent family member; rest for the caregiver- giving them a break; care is short-term |
| Sandwich Generation | the middle-aged population who are care-givers or support persons for aging parents and young adult children |
| Senior Citizen | an elderly person; usually 65 or older; AARP- 50 years old; some places 55 or 60 |
| Sundown Syndrome (sundowning) | used to describe worsening behavior problems in the late day or evening |
| Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) | temporary loss of oxygen and blood to the brain; (some people call it a mini-stroke, it isn't) |
| Terminal | the end; incurable or irreversible condition; treatment merely prolongs life |
| Thanatology | the study of death from a biological, psychological, and sociological perspective |
Created by:
Supernurse
Popular Nursing sets