CSW-G flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Presbycusis

Age-related sensorineural hearing loss, typically bilateral and high-frequency, that reduces speech discrimination. It worsens in background noise and is associated with social isolation, depression, and increased dementia risk.

Presbyopia

Age-related loss of lens accommodation causing difficulty focusing on near objects, usually noticed in the 40s. Corrected with reading glasses, bifocals, or multifocal lenses; uncorrected refractive error raises fall risk.

Sarcopenia

Age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. Associated with falls, frailty, and functional decline; resistance training and adequate protein intake are the main countermeasures.

Frailty phenotype

Fried criteria: unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, low grip strength, slow gait speed, and low physical activity. Three or more criteria indicate frailty; one or two indicate prefrailty.

Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

Multidisciplinary evaluation of medical, functional, cognitive, psychological, and social domains leading to a coordinated care plan. Reduces functional decline and hospitalization in frail older adults.

ADLs versus IADLs

ADLs are basic self-care tasks such as bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, and feeding. IADLs are complex tasks such as managing money, medications, shopping, and transportation; IADL loss typically precedes ADL loss.

Mini-Cog

Three-item recall plus a clock-drawing task, taking about three minutes. A positive screen suggests cognitive impairment and warrants fuller evaluation; it is less affected by education and language than longer instruments.

Timed Up and Go

Patient rises from a chair, walks three meters, turns, returns, and sits. A time of 12 seconds or more suggests increased fall risk and warrants further mobility assessment.

Delirium

Acute, fluctuating disturbance of attention and awareness, often with altered psychomotor activity. Commonly triggered by infection, medications, pain, or sleep disruption; it is a medical emergency and not a normal part of aging.

Beers Criteria

List of potentially inappropriate medications for adults 65 and older, organized by drug class and clinical concern. Used as decision support, not an absolute prohibition; overriding requires documented clinical justification.

Polypharmacy

Commonly defined as use of five or more medications concurrently. Raises risk of adverse drug events, falls, and hospitalization; requires periodic medication reconciliation and deprescribing review.

Elder mistreatment

Physical, sexual, or psychological abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of an older adult. Roughly 1 in 10 community-dwelling adults 60 and older is affected annually, but most cases go unreported.

Financial exploitation

Illegal or improper use of an older adult's funds or property by a family member, caregiver, or stranger. Often co-occurs with neglect and is among the most frequently reported forms of elder mistreatment.

Self-neglect

Failure to meet one's own basic needs for health, safety, or hygiene, without a third party causing the harm. It is the most commonly reported elder mistreatment category to adult protective services.

Capacity assessment elements

Four abilities: communicating a choice, understanding relevant information, appreciating the situation and consequences, and reasoning about options. Capacity is decision-specific and may fluctuate with time or treatment.

Competency

A legal status determined by a court, not a clinical judgment. Clinicians assess capacity; courts adjudicate competency, often in guardianship proceedings.

Advance directive

Written statement of a person's future healthcare wishes, including living wills and durable powers of attorney for healthcare. It applies when the person loses decision-making capacity.

Health Care Proxy

A durable power of attorney for healthcare naming an agent to make medical decisions if the person loses capacity. The agent's authority is generally activated by a clinician's determination of incapacity.

POLST

Portable medical order documenting treatment preferences for seriously ill patients, such as resuscitation and hospitalization. It is a medical order, unlike an advance directive, and travels across care settings.

Ageism

Prejudice or discrimination based on age. In healthcare it can lead to underdiagnosis, exclusion from clinical trials, and dismissal of treatable conditions as normal aging.

Elder orphans

Older adults who lack available family or social support. They are at elevated risk of isolation, unmet care needs, and late detection of functional decline.

Social isolation versus loneliness

Isolation is an objective lack of social contact; loneliness is the subjective distress of feeling disconnected. A person can be socially active yet lonely, or isolated yet content.

Caregiver burden

The physical, emotional, and financial strain experienced by those caring for an older adult. Associated with depression, burnout, and increased risk of institutional placement.

Respite care

Temporary relief for caregivers through short-term in-home, adult day, or residential care. It reduces caregiver burden and helps sustain community living for the care recipient.

Life review

Structured reflection on one's life, often used in reminiscence therapy. Associated with Erikson's integrity versus despair stage and linked to improved mood in older adults.

Disengagement theory

Early theory proposing that mutual withdrawal between the older adult and society is normal aging. Largely superseded by activity and continuity theories; useful mainly as a historical concept.

Activity theory

Proposes that successful aging involves maintaining activity and social roles. Well-being is associated with continued engagement, though the direction of causation is debated.

Continuity theory

Suggests that older adults maintain stable patterns of personality, values, and behavior over time. Adaptation to aging occurs within existing coping styles and social roles.

Age-related renal decline

Glomerular filtration rate falls roughly 8 mL/min/1.73 m² per decade after age 30. Renal drug clearance decreases, raising risk of accumulation and toxicity for renally excreted medications.

Total body water decline

Aging reduces total body water and lean mass while increasing fat. Water-soluble drugs reach higher concentrations; lipophilic drugs have longer half-lives and accumulate.

Orthostatic hypotension

Drop of at least 20 mm Hg systolic or 10 mm Hg diastolic within three minutes of standing. Common in older adults due to medications, dehydration, and baroreflex changes; a key fall risk factor.

Fall risk screening

Annual screening for falls, fear of falling, and gait or balance problems in adults 65 and older. Positive screens warrant multifactorial assessment of medications, vision, footwear, home hazards, and strength.