Reference no: EM133268109
Question - Millie Larsen is an 84-year-old Caucasian female who lives alone in a small home. Her husband, Harold, passed away a year ago and she has a cat, Snuggles, who is very important to her. Millie has one daughter, Dina Olsen, who is 50, that lives nearby, and is Millie's major support system. Her current medical problems include: hypertension, glaucoma, osteoarthritis of the knee, stress incontinence, osteoporosis, and hypercholesterolemia. Millie has been in her room on the medical-surgical unit for about six hours. She was in the Emergency Department overnight because there were no available beds on the medical units. Due to her confusion, Millie did not take her medications properly in the days prior to admission and as a result, her blood pressure is very elevated. Millie's daughter, Dina is at the bedside and is quite concerned about the confusion and elevated blood pressure.
1. Describe 3-5 priority nursing considerations when preparing to care for Ms. Larson who is 84 year-old, who lives alone, and presents to the ER with confusion. And highlight some signs and symptoms related to the condition.
2. Identify individual or environmental cues that would alert you to Ms. Larson current mental status.
3. Describe how the SPICES instrument can be incorporated with the assessments to identify age-specific syndromes that Ms. Larson may be experiencing.
4. How can a change in mental status be misinterpreted as a psychosocial condition vs. a medical related illness?