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ageism and health care
ageism and health care
negative impacts on ageism
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There are profound effects of ageism that can be harmful to a patient’s overall health. Ageism can cause physicians to consistently treat older patients unequally compared to younger adults. Unequal treatment can be divided into the under-treatment of symptoms and the over-treatment of symptoms. The imbalance in how a physician would treat a geriatric patient is ageist because the older adult is not getting fair treatment in every case. Under-treatment and over-treatment are different; however, they are both equally as harmful to a patients health.
One consequence of a caregiver having an ageist attitude can be the overmedication of geriatric patients. Overmedication can occur if medical providers offer misguided health recommendations based
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Under-treatment is common because of the misguided perceptions many healthcare providers have for older adult patients. In Dr. Erdman Palmore’s Ageism Survey (2001) of community-dwelling older adults ages 60 to 93, 43% of respondents reported that “a doctor or nurse assumed my ailments were caused by my age,” and 9% said they were “denied medical treatment because of age.”(cite) Situations like these are detrimental because if the symptoms are because of a legitimate problem that is overlooked due to old age, a patient’s health can worsen and a small problem can grow into something fatal. Furthermore, a patient who is told that a symptom is because of their old age can internalize those negative feelings that the physician expresses, and can then become depressed due to believing that they are helpless. Negative attitudes affect people’s physical and mental health. A few opinions that healthcare providers have about older patients that cause under-treatment are evident in a current cross-sectional survey, the Expectations Regarding Aging Scale, which assessed perceptions of aging. The majority of providers surveyed were primary care providers (PCP). PCP’s include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians. Over 60% of PCPs agreed with the statements “Having more aches and pains is an accepted part of aging” and “The human body is like a car: when it gets old, it gets worn out” (61%). Another 52% agreed that one should expect to become more forgetful with age, and 17% agreed “mental slowness” is “impossible to escape,” (cite). An example of under-treatment of a symptom in an older adult is back pain. Pain is commonly under-treated among older adults. While patients may already have ageist expectations about the
overcoming elderspeak. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 30(10), 17-25. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.
Ageing is not inevitably associated with failing health, but many elderly people are living with one or more long-term medical conditions and for a significant number, advancing age brings complications
After spending an afternoon interviewing my elderly father-in-law, I gained insight into how he perceives the aging process and the impact on the quality of his life. First, and foremost he viewed aging in a very positive and healthy manner. He believes that a positive attitude assists in accepting physical and psychosocial changes and enjoyed the fact that he and his wife are both physically fit and cognitively alert. He felt confident that advances made in health care and the quality of their lives would continue to be empowering. He enjoys the benefits of being a senior citizen including discounted travel, free education, and other incentives marketed towards seniors. He expressed a sense of well-being with respect to the numerous housing options geared towards the graying population, such as Retirement Villages, and assisted living. However, the subjects of Long Term Care, Social security reform and government involvement in health care reform were subjects he regarded with very strong negative emotions. During the interview these issues as related to his experiences with health care were discussed with zeal and frustration.
stereotypes and reinforcing the realities of aging as they care for older adults in all care
The term “ageism” is not easily understood by most of the population because of its acceptance as normal behavior due to the ingrained attitudes that most people develop in their youth, but health care workers must fully embrace the term within their profession in order to avoid becoming a contributor to the historical prevalence of prejudices and discrimination. The term ageism is defined by Klein and Liu (2010) as “the discrimination of individuals based solely on age” (p. 334). “Ageism is a social construct that is internalized in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals” (Klein & Liu, 2010, p. 334). Robert Butler, a well-known gerontologist, coined the term “ageism” citing that the discrimination and prejudice associated with this term is often based on the lack of a person’s experience with older people (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). Ferrini and Ferrini (2013) refer to the strong influence that cultural beliefs and attitudes as well as a person’s current age influence the perception of aging (p. 6). Everywhere within society there are influences that encourage ageist attitudes such as media conveyances through movies, books, television, greeting cards, magazines and the Internet (Ferrini and Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). These negative connotations related to growing older begin to influence all people at a very young age and therefore impact their attitudes as they make career decisions. This has directly impacted the number of health care providers who specialize in geriatrics as well as the attitudes of those who do provide services for older adults. These false perceptions and negative attitudes are currently impacting the q...
Attitudes are the foundation of quality of care for older adults. Among health care professionals, discrimination and stereotypical behaviors are very prevalent, even though more often than not these individuals do not realize their actions are ageist. “Ageism hinders people from seeing the potential of aging, anticipation their own aging, and being responsive to the needs of older people” (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). Attitudes are directly correlated with how individuals age and whether individuals stay health and live longer (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). The care that older adults receive from healthcare professionals is directly influenced by that provider’s attitude about growing older. All too often, health care providers rely on a patient’s chronological age rather than their functional age when determining their needs and what interventions are prescribed. Another issue lies in providers viewing the complaints of older patients as a part of “normal aging”, therefore potentially missing life-threatening problems that may have been easily resolved. “Age is only appropriate in health treatment as a secondary factor in making medical decisions, and it should not be used as a stand-alone factor” (Nolan, 2011, p. 334).
The search for the fountain of youth has produced many multi-billion dollar corporations across the globe, from pharmaceutical companies to insurance agencies. The large profits these companies report yields incredible power and influence. Pharmaceutical conglomerates introduce new drugs worldwide targeted directly to those who are aging. Packaging is covered front to back with the fine print of the drugs’ possible side-affects, many sound more terrifying than actually just living with the condition. Television campaigns touch on the vulnerabilities and insecurities that threaten quality of life when one is aging, and can be down right embarrassing. The low voiced, quick speed of the drug disclaimer always ends instructing patients to ‘Ask your doctor if xxx is right for you…”
Ageism is defined as having an attitude that discriminates, separates, stigmatizes, or otherwise disadvantages older adults on the basis of chronologic age (Ageism, 2009). This is an act of singling out a certain population and choosing to providing unequal opportunities and treatment just because of a person’s age. In our situation, “Seniors admitted to acute hospitals are more likely to have multiple chronic diseases, as well as impaired cognition and higher levels of dependency (including mobility) than younger adults. Acute hospitals frequently present a “hostile environment” that leads to functional decline in the frail elderly and a “cascade of dependency” that results in approximately one-third of older patients losing independent functioning in one or more activities of daily living. This decline is not related to acute illnesses but to the adverse effects of modern therapy and current hospital practices, which are designed for younger people.” (Huang, Larente, Morais,
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
geriatric care need to be explored, so action can be taken to combat these issues and better
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Ageism, a term used to assign negative labels to the elderly population has caused many of these older adults to internalize such stereotypes and thus, they have been less likely to seek out mental health and substance abuse care. Substance abuse, predominantly of alcohol, prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications is a growing health problem among adults age 60 and older and is a major concern that the country is facing. Even though the number of older adults suffering from these substance disorders is increasing, the situation tends to be overlooked or misdiagnosed by health care professionals and thus, inadequate treatment has not been provided to this population. One contributing factor to why substance abuse among older adults remains underdiagnosed is because indications of substance abuse in older individuals sometimes imitate symptoms of other medical and psychological disorders common among this population such as depression, dementia, and diabetes (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2012).
According to DeBrew, author of “Can being ageist harm your older adult patients?” stereotypes and discrimination are evident in various aspects of patient care. “Ageism [is] defined as stereotyping or discrimination aimed at older adults and a lack of knowledge about normal changes of aging and presentation of illness in older adults (. . .)” (DeBrew, 2015). DeBrew (2015) states, “research findings suggest that ageism is common in healthcare” (DeBrew, 2015). Ageism is not only an issue in the healthcare setting, but also among older adults as well as their families. When ageism is present in the healthcare setting it poses
Shaw, A. B. “In Defence of Ageism.” Journal of medical ethics 20.3 (1994): 188–194. Print.
The Elderly individuals face problems like Ageism. The older society is not given the same options in treatment as the younger society. The Elderly who battle cancer do not receive chemotherapy like the younger generation. Some people believe that doctors are genuinely worried about their patients and others believe that age discrimination is the reason of treatment discrepancy (Dockter & Keene, 2009).