Senior citizens need a lot of attention. Their immune system weakens, and they need close monitoring and supervision. Mr. P has various medical needs that require managing and treatment. Mr. P will get advice, treatment, and care.
Approach to Care
Mr. P is 76 years of age. It means that he is a senior man who needs attention to care and detailed examination. He has Cardiomyopathy and Congestive Heart Failure. He also has some complications in the lung and difficulties in breathing (Stone, 2011). Mr. P should not carry out any tiresome chores at home. He should not lift objects that could result in heavy breathing. He has various diet restrictions and has to manage his polypharmacy. His wife is the only close helper he has during these difficult moments. She has to change her tone and accept that the condition can only worsen if she does not encourage her husband.
His wife is tired and feels that the entire burden is on her shoulders, but verbalizing her sadness over his declining health only hurts him. And yet his age cannot allow him to do much about his health. If the house has an upper floor, Mr. P should move his beddings and other stuff to the ground floor so that he does not have to climb or go downstairs (Stone, 2011). The wife should also assist him in managing the medication processes such that he takes his medication as prescribed by the physician. The family should also get a medical practitioner to be visiting them for health care concerns. The hospital they go to for treatment can also assign a nurse or physician for such services.
Treatment Plan
Mr. P already has a diagnosis for some of his ailments. It is visible in the management of his polypharmacy. In the treatment of the pitting edema, there is the need to reverse the forces that are not working well. However, there is a need to find out the cause of the edema. It could be kidney failure or heart problems.
The treatment could involve increasing the forces that keep the fluids in the blood vessels or reduce the forces that cause fluids to leak out of the blood vessels. The physician might most likely use the diuretic method (Ritsner, 2013). Other treatments will depend on the kind of diagnosis results that will be available. Mr. P will require an x-ray to determine the extent to which the lungs are affected. The wife will have to continue being the breadwinner in the family to ease her husband’s desire to die.
Education Method
The patient and his wife need to learn some basics about the situation they are undergoing. Perhaps the wife does not understand the condition and wonders how they will overcome it. First, they have to learn about the elderly’s condition and challenges. They also need to learn about the diseases and conditions that they are undergoing (Stone, 2011). They would also need to have information about finances. A financial expert will handle the financial part. However, the medical practitioner assigned to them should arrange lessons on the health condition and old age (Ritsner, 2013).
Teaching Plan
Every Wednesday, Mr. P and his wife should learn about the elderly’s condition and challenges. They can learn about heart problems on Mondays. Fridays would be a day for the other sicknesses that affect them. On Saturdays, they can get lessons on financial management. They can choose one day in the month for open sessions to determine if the information is well understood.
References
Ritsner, M. (2013). Polypharmacy in psychiatry practice. Dordrecht: Springer.
Stone, R. (2011). Long-term care for the elderly. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.