Geriatric Pain Assessment

INTERVIEW WITH AN OLDER ADULT – PART 2
Throughout this paper I will discuss my second interview with F.C. regarding her assessment tool scores and summaries; I will discuss the geriatric depression scale, geriatric pain assessment, the assessment of environment and advanced directives, one teaching topic with interventions and an overall summary of my impression of my client.
Assessment Tools – Overview of Scores
Geriatric Depression Scale Depression is a common disorder in the elderly. Screening patients for depression and treatment can decrease the negative impact of depression and improve their quality of life (Tabloski, 2014). For the geriatric screening scale, F.C. scored a 0 out of 15 on the scale (Tabloski, 2014). F.C. stated that
reported that she tries not to let the intermittent discomfort in her knees especially, get in the way of her agenda. She did report the only time that she let her discomfort bother her is when she went with her whole family to cut down their Christmas tree, a yearly tradition, and when climbing onto the back of the buckboard with the aid of her “boys,” she was not able to bend her knee, when she did, the pain was immense. She states that for the first time the thought came across her mind that maybe this is the last year that she will be accompanying the family to the Christmas tree farm. But, as with past difficulties, F.C. quickly removed any negative thoughts of defeat and continues to go hunting for Christmas trees with the family. F.C. denies any changes in her sleep patterns or quality, bowel habits contributing that to her healthy diet or self-image. F.C. has a high tolerance for pain, she says, and that she will only take a Motrin, or two, when she feels that a storm is coming. She also denies any other associated symptoms other than the pain slows her down. She feels that she her pain is due to arthritis and that she obtained the arthritis because she scrubbed her kitchen floor once or twice a week. Based on the geriatric pain assessment (Tabloski, p. 215) F.C. reports that she does not have a plan if her bilateral knee and hip discomfort get worse and that she will make decisions at that time when she is faced with that problem. F.C. at this time, is able to
lives is unique. All of her neighbors on her side of the road are her siblings. Each one of the siblings live on 3 to 14 acres of property and a registered state park borders their homes. It is like her own little oasis that is a stone’s throw away from the convents of the city. She has two dogs that live outside, F.C. reports that keeping the dogs outside is a safety measure for her. The dogs let her know when someone is coming in the drive or walking up to her home, they also keep the raccoons from getting into the trash and the deer from eating her vegetation and plants. It is truly a remarkable setup. F.C. is financial stable from her husband’s profession and her family inheritance. She does not have to worry about any of her financing or bills, she says, because her one son is a account and every month goes through her mail and pays her bills. She added, the day he comes to pay her bills she makes him and his family a big beautiful dinner in addition to the grandchildren usually sleeping over that night. F.C. has an advance directive in which all of her children are aware and have copies of. She reports the paper work was done the same time of her husband’s diagnosis when did he did his advance directive. She made it very clear to me that she does not want to be resuscitated despite how extremely healthy she is at this