Geriatric Clinical Experience
Describe your clinical experience for this week as a student nurse practitioner taking care of geriatric patients.
- Did you face any challenges, any success? If so, what were they?
- Describe the assessment of a patient, detailing the signs and symptoms (S&S), assessment, plan of care, and at least 3 possible differential diagnosis with rationales.
- Mention the health promotion intervention for this patient.
- What did you learn from this week’s clinical experience that can beneficial for you as an advanced practice nurse?
- Support your plan of care with the current peer-reviewed research guideline.
Submission Instructions:
- Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. Your initial post is worth 8 points.
Check out our Essay writing services
Geriatric Clinical Experience
Weekly Clinical Experience Overview
During this week’s geriatric clinical experience, I had the opportunity to assess and manage older adults with complex health conditions in a primary care setting. I continued to build my confidence in performing focused assessments and communicating effectively with older patients. One of the challenges I encountered was addressing medication non-adherence, which was often due to forgetfulness or misunderstanding of instructions. However, a rewarding success was helping a patient better manage their hypertension through simplified dosing instructions and involving their caregiver in the treatment plan.
Patient Assessment and Differential Diagnoses
One of the patients I assessed was a 79-year-old female who presented with increasing fatigue, cloudy urine, and mild confusion. She denied fever or chills. Her vital signs were stable, but the urinalysis was positive for leukocyte esterase and nitrites. Based on the findings, she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (UTI). The care plan included initiating antibiotics, increasing fluid intake, and scheduling a follow-up.
Differential diagnoses included:
-
UTI – supported by urinalysis and symptoms.
-
Dehydration – due to decreased fluid intake and fatigue.
-
Early dementia exacerbation – confusion may signal cognitive decline or be infection-related.
Health Promotion Intervention
I provided education on UTI prevention, encouraged proper hydration, and discussed hygiene practices with both the patient and caregiver to reduce recurrence risks.
