Common Geriatric Illnesses Education Coursework Paper

Class: Common Geriatric Illnesses
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Class: Common Geriatric Illnesses
Topic: Common Geriatric Illnesses
Audience: Adults above 40 years of age
Introduction
This class on common geriatric illnesses is sponsored and supported by the Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Florida. The Baptist Hospital is committed to helping patients walk through life’s journey, and this constitutes the hospital’s tenets of philosophy and mission. Many diseases come with age, which is called geriatric illnesses. As individual ages, there is a tremendous change in biological processes due to cellular deterioration. The lifestyle of an individual and illnesses play a critical role in aggravating ageing process or slowing it. The prevalence of illnesses that are associated with ageing includes cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, cancers, osteoarthritis, and diabetes, among others. The systemic body changes in the course of ageing involve sensory, muscle strength and fat changes, immunosenescence, and urologic changes (Jaul & Barron, 2017). The Baptist Hospital constantly manages this range of geriatric conditions, and this is aligned to the philosophy of the hospital of helping patients walk through life as they age.
Need Assessment
There are many challenges that face older citizens: these problems range from chronic illnesses to acute diseases. It must be noted that the biological systems of senior citizens have diverse frailties, including a weak immune system, increases risk to diseases and fractures, lower cognitive abilities and impaired memory, and reduced capacity to fight off diseases. These geriatric illnesses reduce the quality of life and constitute the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among senior citizens. Thus, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive management approaches to geriatric illness.
One broad strategy is to educate older citizens on ways of preventing disease and promoting healthy living in a bid to optimize the quality of life and to increase life expectancy. Prolonged lifestyle practices and behaviors directly or indirectly contribute a significant number of geriatric illnesses. Behaviors like smoking, leading a sedentary lifestyle, and unhealthy dietary practices, e.g., taking high-content sugary foods, can aggravate the aging process and lead to geriatric illness. In response to these health problems, it is critical to educate senior citizens on ways of adopting behavioral health patterns that would prevent disease and promote healthy living. The target audience includes those who are above 40 years because this is the phase of life where there are remarkable biological changes associated with ageing: it becomes relevant to target this group because it is feasible to adopt a timely and appropriate healthy lifestyle that promotes quality of life.
Class description
The class targets older adults who are moving towards being senior citizens. The class will focus on those who are 40 years and above because this is an age bracket where an individual can adopt a healthy lifestyle based on inherent health risks that come up with ageing. The class will be made of two sessions, each taking two hours. These sessions will cover arthritis an...