The most difficult tasks for a nurse dealing with geriatric adults are the nutritional evaluation, mental condition, and functional status assessments. Nutrition is important in geriatric assessments since elderly people are vulnerable to nutritional deficiency. The vulnerability to inadequate nutrition comes as a result of lost appetite caused by loneliness, limited dentition, depression, lack of money, and medical conditions such as dementia. In addition, elderly people are at high risk of getting obese owing to inactivity, lack of different foods, and poor socioeconomic status.
Therefore, nurses have an uphill task in performing thorough nutritional assessments on geriatric patients. This nutritional evaluation requires the nurses to evaluate information concerning the geriatric patient’s medical status and symptoms. The geriatric patient’s functional condition is observed and monitored as well in order to understand any change that might have occurred in the patient’s health status. In fact, these changes are often linked to dietary intake. Notably, the changes can be linked to nutritional requirements. Therefore, it is important for a nurse to have a thorough understanding of the geriatric patient’s health condition. Concerning the nutritional evaluation, a nurse is required to assess a number of things, which include the change in body weight and vitamin supplementation.
It is also important to determine body mass index (BMI) in order to assess for obesity. The body mass index (BMI) can also be used in the underweight evaluation. The medications that the patient is currently taking and their effects on the sick person’s nutritional condition are also to be analyzed. The nurse is also assigned the task of evaluating both the mental condition and functional status of the patient. In assessing the patient’s functional status, the nurse determines whether one is capable of buying and preparing food for oneself. The mental status concerns the interest of a patient in food. Therefore, nutritional evaluation presents the most difficult and challenging task for a nurse in dealing with geriatric adults.