As our bodies age, changes can be seen and felt. Aging affects everything from the integumentary system to the urinary system. A part of your STNA training in Ohio is to recognize the various signs of aging so that you are better able to meet the needs of your patients.
Certain changes to the body are normal. How fast we age and certain aspects of aging differ from one individual to the next depending up diet, health, stress, heredity, exercise and environment. Some changes occur gradually over time, while others can occur quickly as a result of illness or disease. Ohio STNA training helps you understand the different systems and the effects aging can have upon these systems.
One such system affected by aging is the integumentary system, or skin: skin loses elasticity and strength, brown spots may appear on wrists and or hands, fewer blood vessels and nerve endings, loss of fatty tissue, thin and saggy skin, development of fine lines, folds, wrinkles, dry and itchy skin, more sensitive to cold and less sensitive to pain, decreased sweat gland and oil secretions, thinning, drying and or graying hair and development of facial hair in some women.
STNA training in Ohio includes instruction of the various systems in and of the body including the musculoskeletal. Physical changes from aging to this system include muscle atrophy, decreased mobility and strength, bones become more brittle and more susceptible to breaks, stiff and painful joints and a gradual loss of height.
Signs of aging within the nervous system include confusion, decreased sense of smell and taste, forgetfulness, decreased vision and hearing, shorter memory, reduced blood flow to the brain and progressive loss of brain cells, and reduced sense of touch and sensitivity to pain.
Decreased appetite, indigestion, difficulty in swallowing, decreased peristalsis causing flatulence and constipation, loss of teeth, and decreased saliva production are a few of the changes of the digestive system.
Although the urinary and respiratory systems are also affected by things such as lung tissue becoming less elastic, difficulty breathing, urinary incontinence and a decrease in kidney function, focus is generally on the cardiovascular system with changes such as narrowing arteries that become less elastic causing less blood flow, and a weakened heart which pumps with less force yet has to work harder to pump blood through the narrowed vessels.
STNA training in Ohio prepares individuals for the demands of older patient care including the young-old (persons between 60 and 75 years of age), the middle-old (persons between 75 and 84 years), and the old-old (persons older than 85 years).