Management Guidelines for Nurse Practitioners Working with Older Adults

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Because of the continuing rapid growth of the older adult population, there will be an increased need for primary care providers to deliver age-specific care and direct disease management. This 2nd edition of Management Guidelines for Nurse Practitioners Working with Older Adults will serve as a clinical resource for advanced practice nurses and students who are privileged to provide primary care to older adults. Focused on common disorders seen in adults from both the medical and nursing perspectives, this revised reference addresses nursing diagnoses and patient education and provides your students with various approaches for assessing the older client. This handy reference also contains chapters on the principles of promoting health and on the essentials of good nutrition for older adults.

WHAT'S NEW:Easy-to-carry size Focus on health promotion, anticipatory guidance, and disorder guidelines Focus on recommendations and guidelines, not theory ICD-9 codes added to all the disorders Diagnostic test information tables include test name, results indicating disorder, and CPT codes KEY FEATURES: Discusses 112 disorders seen in older adults Reviews the physiologic and psychosocial changes associated with aging Includes chapters on principles of promoting health and on essentials of good nutrition Discusses various approaches for assessing the client and obtaining all essential information in a timely fashion Each monograph includes definition, etiology, occurrence, age, ethnicity, gender, contributing factors, signs and symptoms, diagnostic tests, differential diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, sequelae, prevention/prophylaxis, referral guidelines, education, and references A logo in the beginning of each of the disorders lists one or two �Signal Symptoms� that helps the user quickly target potential differential diagnoses Rationales added to differential diagnoses that helps differentiate one disorder from another Complementary therapies added to treatment section Psychosocial issues discussed Many monographs conclude with a diagnostic decision tree to illustrate diagnostic or treatment reasoning Organized by anatomical areas in a head-to-toe approach Each disorder chapter contains an overview of the essential elements to focus on during assessment

SYNOPSIS

Private practitioners Hill and Sullivan present a clinical reference that offers advice on the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of 80 physical disorders seen in older adults. The material is arranged anatomically. Each entry includes information on the disease's description, etiology, demographic factors, signs and symptoms, differential diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, referral, and education. Three non-disease focused chapters discuss health promotion, 20 common symptoms and signs, and psychosocial problems. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Doody Review Services

Reviewer: Jean K. Berry, PhD (University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing)Description: This is a revision of a book designed to meet the needs of practitioners caring for older adult patients in outpatient settings. Although small enough in size to be carried in a lab coat pocket, it contains a wide range of information pertaining to common health problems in the elderly as well as tables, algorithms, ICD 9 codes and clinical pearls that highlight unique aging aspects of each problem. The previous edition was published in 2000.Purpose: This book is specifically designed to provide age-related information for primary care management of older adults. As the population ages, increasing numbers of older patients are seen in the outpatient areas for care. Healthcare workers providing this care may not be prepared to identify age-related problems as well as the unique presentation of these problems in this specific population. The main objective to provide this critical information is accomplished in this handbook.Audience: The book is written for advanced practice nurses including clinical nurse specialists and case managers, students and RNs who provide care for older adults in the ambulatory care setting. It is designed for use in primary care and is appropriately broad in content. The level of the material is appropriate for the range of the audience. The authors and contributors include a wide range of advance practice nurses and clinical experts with relevant credentials.Features: The first part of this book serves as a quick guide to health promotion with updated information regarding dietary and exerciseassessment as well as recommendations. In addition, immunization schedules for both healthy adults and those with other medical conditions are included. Issues of safety, substance abuse and sexual behavior are succinctly presented. The unique feature of the book is a symptom-based format for 19 common older adult health problems used in the next section. The book includes a list of differential diagnoses to help practitioners problem solve, much as is done in a typical patient encounter. Frequency of problem, ICD 9 codes, contributing factors, signs and symptoms, diagnostic tests, complications and follow-up are discussed for each patient problem, as well as prevention and education. References are listed for each problem, including Web sites with current guidelines and specific contacts for specialty organizations. The addition of many clinical pearls, which point out the atypical age-related presentations of health problems, catch the reader's attention and add to the usefulness of this book. System-based discussions of many additional common disorders in older adults are included. Pharmacological treatment is presented for each disorder but the book is not to be used as a drug reference, as doses and drugs change quite frequently. In addition, new guidelines for management of hypertension have been released since this edition was completed.Assessment: This is a very useful guide for busy practitioners in the primary care area. It is not meant to be used as a primary care textbook, but it covers the essential information for all covered topics. References and current guidelines are included for further reading. Although this handbook is not as comprehensive as The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics, 30th Edition (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001), it is unique in providing specific age-based information including lab values and test interpretations along with age-related physiologic changes.

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