running head: HEALTH PROMOTION PROJECT 1

Health Promotion Project

NUR 4113: Gerontological Concepts and Issues

Madelyn McLain

September 16, 2018

I pledge…
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Health Promotion Project

The client interviewed is a 77 year old caucasian male. The client is currently retired, after

owning his own business for 17 years, continued to be a district manager for Friendly's and then

working Chesterfield County as a cafeteria manager. The client speaks, reads, writes, and

understands english. The client has no speech impairments, admits to being slightly hard of

hearing and uses glasses. The client states he has good health and makes his own decisions

regarding his health care. The client states he lives at home with his wife and has additional

family support. The client admits to having no disaster plan in place and does know what he

would do in the instance of a disaster. Healthy People 2020 specifically lists objectives that

including increasing the number of adults who have an emergency plan in place (Healthy People,

2018).

Goals

The choice of readiness for enhanced self-care health management nursing diagnosis was

selected based on the general healthiness of the client and lack of disaster plan. A short term

outcome identified for this client was receiving literature on disaster planning by September 19,

2018. This short term outcome was met when I met with the client and shared this literature with

him. A long term outcome identified for this client was a written disaster plan for the client and

his household by December 1, 2018. The client was given enough information that he would be

able to prepare a disaster plan and meet this goal if he so choose.

Teaching Plan

After forming a nursing diagnosis and deciding that the client would benefit from establishing a

disaster plan, I decided to use the American Red Cross “Family Disaster Plan” and “Disaster

preparedness for Seniors by Seniors” (American Red Cross, 2018). The patient's learning method
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as identified in the survey of learning methods was kinesthetic and visual. Other factors that may

impact my clients learning included his high school education level and socioeconomic status. I

took the template of the disaster plan over to his house and showed him how to fill it out. We

discussed the importance of the disaster plan and went over the brochure discussing steps that

should be taken in the very near future.

In a nationwide study, researchers looked at the overall preparedness of older adults in the

event of a disaster (Al-Rousan, Rubenstein, & Wallace, 2015). A sample size of 1304 of older

adults greater than 50 were selected from the Health and Retirement study (Al-Rousan,

Rubenstein, & Wallace, 2015). Of the 1304 adults surveyed, only 23.6% reported having a

disaster plan (Al-Rousan, Rubenstein, & Wallace, 2015). The study showed that older adults are

prone adverse physiological and psychological effects faced in disaster due to chronic diseases

(Al-Rousan, Rubenstein, & Wallace, 2015). Disasters can happen anywhere and be faced by

anyone which makes having a disaster plan so crucial.

The teaching aids used to help educate my client were the “Family Disaster Plan” (American

Red Cross, 2018), which is a blank form used to fill in important information to prepare someone

for a disaster. It includes information like important numbers to have, escape route out of the

house, emergency numbers, and location of important paperwork. I also used the brochure,

“Disaster preparedness for Seniors by Seniors” to help educate my client on the importance of

having a disaster plan (American Red Cross, 2018). The brochure covers the three steps to

preparedness: (a) get a kit, (b) make a plan, (c) be informed. The kit includes basic necessities

and supplies to take in an emergency situation. The plan includes planning ahead and

communicating to those in the house what the escape route and meeting place would be in case
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of an emergency. The final step, being informed, covers knowing what resources there are in the

community and what disasters you may be at risk for.

Outcomes

The short term goal that I had for my client was that he would have literature shared with him by

September 19, 2018. This goal was met when I met with the client and shared the American Red

Cross brochure on disaster planning and the American Red Cross disaster checklist. The short

term outcome was measured by the client receiving the information and being able to verbally

repeat back the importance of a disaster plan. The long term goal I had for my client was that he

would take the information presented to him and then write his own disaster plan for himself and

his family. I told my client I would be following up with him on the phone on his long term goal

and see if he had the chance to write his own disaster plan for himself and his family. The client

was also left with a copy of the disaster plan template he could follow on his own. The nursing

outcomes were related to primary prevention, preparing for disasters before they actually occur.

Conclusion

The effectiveness of my teaching was overall received well by the client, he was receptive

to the information on disaster planning. The client was hesitant on actually making a disaster

plan, mainly due to a lack of urgency and feeling that he wasn’t in an area of disaster impact.

The client stated, “This information is good, but I have never faced a disaster before, and don’t

think I will.” The limitation of my teaching was not being able to relay the information in a way

that caused my client to react. Another limitation was I was not able to meet with the client’s

wife on the two visits and include her on the education as well.

If I could have done anything differently I would have arranged for times to meet with my client and his

wife, and hope her influence would have been positive. I also would have considered other teaching
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strategies that would include more kinesthetic teaching aids. I felt uncomfortable at first interviewing

my client and asking such personal questions, however as the meeting progressed I felt more

comfortable. At the second meeting I felt comfortable presenting the information to the client and was

able to answer any questions he had. I learned a lot through this project, learning that older adults have a

lot going on and may not necessarily respond the way you think they would.
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References

Al-Rousan, T. M., Rubenstein, L. M., & Wallace, R. B. (2015). Preparedness for Natural

Disasters Among Older US Adults: A Nationwide Survey. American Journal of Public

Health,105(S4). doi:10.2105/ajph.2013.301559r

American Red Cross. (2018). DISASTER PREPAREDNESS For Seniors By Seniors. Retrieved

from

https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/PDF_s/Preparedness___Disaster_Rec

overy/Disaster_Preparedness/Disaster_Preparedness_for_Srs-English.revised_7-09.pdf

American Red Cross. (2018). Disaster Preparedness Plan. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from

https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.html

Healthy People 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2018, from

https://www.healthypeople.gov/

links to teaching materials:

https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/PDF_s/Preparedness___Disaster_Rec

overy/General_Preparedness___Recovery/Home/ARC_Family_Disaster_Plan_Template

_r083012.pdf

https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/PDF_s/Preparedness___Disaster_Rec

overy/Disaster_Preparedness/Disaster_Preparedness_for_Srs-English.revised_7-09.pdf
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