The Importance Of Ageism In Nursing

As stated by Butler, ageism is much like racism or even sexism (Peppard). Ageism means stereotyping and discriminating individuals based on their age. Ageism is the reason for many myths made about the older adult. Many people in our society are unaware of the normal changes of aging because of the myths that have been around for many years. A nurse’s first job would be to identify the normal changes of aging in an older adult so as to treat anything else that may be happening. Nurse’s also must provide education about the myths of aging and become the change agents to the general public. Identification of normal changes of aging is the first step in caring for an older adult. Some of the types of changes include: physical, psychological,

Through education and experience nurses must be able to implement various methods to teach the general public how to contrast between myths, and symptoms of disease. One method to increase awareness of ageism is to engage people in different activities with the elderly, such as role playing, observation, and firsthand experience with the elderly generation (Yu and Chen, 2012). Many people believe that later life would be more enjoyable whilst living at home, however observations of the elderly living at home compared to institutions showed that they often must live this later stage of life alone and can result in increased loneliness, helplessness, and boredom (Blanchard, 2013). This loneliness and lack of societal influence can lead to health issues as well as an accelerated demise (Blanchard, 2013). Another example as to how nurses can become change agents, is to offer the opportunity of role playing. By placing the different generations in the other person’s perspective a new level of understanding may be obtained. These role playing games force the other person to live and deal with each other’s problems and health restrictions in a different mindset, thus giving them a better acknowledgment of what it means to age. Another way for nurses to become agents of change is through firsthand experience, and promoting the younger generation to volunteer in an elderly community to help change their mindset of senility. This is possibly the most effective way that nurses will be able to overcome the dilemma of