The issue of aging

 The issue of aging

Introduction

Many medical institutes and nursing institutions have implemented senior mentor programs curricula, to ensure that most of the people getting into the profession are prepared in order to be able to address the unique needs of the increasingly aged population. The program is vital since it helps the students to be able to promote the knowledge and communication skills and also facilitate a positive attitude concerning the aging process. The picture portrayed by the program seems to be half complete because one side suggests that mentors are enjoying their participation in the program (Halpin, Dillard, Idler, Clevenger, Rothschild, Blanton & Flacker, 2017). On the other side, it suggests that the experience of the older people mentors has not been studied. The issue of aging can sometimes affect the older people negatively, basically on their health indirectly or directly, and therefore, reduction of the ageism on the future health professionals has benefits to the senior mentor programs.

This article is important to us because it is trying to shed light on the students, especially those who want to become health care professionals in the future. The senior mentor program is helpful because it helps to equip most of the healthcare professionals with the right knowledge to address most of the unique needs that are continually increasing the aged population. It helps most of the professionals to be able to have knowledge and the right communication procedure and at the same time they develop positive attitude about the aging population.   Most of the adults have been affected by ageism, especially on their health either indirectly or directly, and this calls for the need to ensure that ageism is reduced among the healthcare professionals in the future.  Therefore, the article has to shed much light on the healthcare professionals who want to deal with the aging population as they have the relevant knowledge and skills to handle them (Halpin, Dillard, Idler, Clevenger, Rothschild, Blanton & Flacker, 2017).

Research design and methods

The study about the senior mentor program went through the review and approved by the University review board of the Emory. The study was conducted by means of the survey as one of the ways of collecting the data. The survey of this article was subdivided into four categories, and the first section included demographic items, for example, gender, age, and the prevalence of the chronic disease. The second part of the survey included the ageism survey; the third part consisted of the age-based rejection sensitivity questionnaire.  While the fourth part of the survey consisted of the short form of the health survey, including mental and physical health status measures.

Concerning the design and the methods of this article, there are likely some of the problems that I have come to identify (Halpin, Dillard, Idler, Clevenger, Rothschild, Blanton & Flacker, 2017). One of the problems is that the survey was divided into many sections that could confuse most of the people who were surveyed. It could not provide a direct answer, as most of the people who were surveyed could easily get tired. The interview could have been the best means used in collecting the information because it would be more direct, and it could also provide direct answers concerning senior mentor programs. The survey system used in the design and the methodology of this article seemed to be ambiguous because one has to go through the four parts of the survey in order to provide information; hence this could be tiresome, leading to false information.

Results

From the article, the result states that most of the mentors were able to review the program about the senior mentor, and they came to conclude that the program provided an opportunity to affect the future health care professionals positively because the majority were able to interact with the older patients. Therefore, this shows that most of the mentees realized that the program is vital to them because of the knowledge that they got while participating in the program(Halpin, Dillard, Idler, Clevenger, Rothschild, Blanton & Flacker, 2017). On the other side, only a few mentors became unconvinced that the program was useful and meaningful to them. Therefore, the primary purpose of the senior program is to ensure that both the mentors and the students are equipped with the knowledge on how to handle the aging people.

The senior mentor program is vital to most of the future healthcare professionals because it provides them with the opportunity to learn how they can develop a positive attitude on how best they can handle the aging population. Therefore, the students and the mentors are able to have experience on how to handle most of the aging people who are having unique needs that require specially attention and care. It is, therefore, it is vital that the article has exposing tactics aspects that will help most of the healthcare professionals to have the right skills and proper communication skills required to handle most of the aging people in the society. It creates an opportunity to interact with them and know their immediate needs.

Discussion

The study about this article exposes the advantages of a senior mentor program to future health care professionals. It also includes the weaknesses of experienced by some of the mentors and the students.  The study shows that the majority of the students and the mentors agreed that the senior mentor program is a beneficial and vital program to them as they were to learn and gain experience with most of the aged people. They were able to learn how to take care of the older people, the best language to communicate to them and how best to attend to some of their needs that are unique as compared to the rest of the population. The mentors and the students are able to learn how to reduce social isolation and loneliness among the aged people. Some of the students and the mentors were not satisfied and did not have good experience with the older adults; this is because of the negative attitude that they developed towards them (Halpin, Dillard, Idler, Clevenger, Rothschild, Blanton & Flacker, 2017).

The study provides essential thoughts on how best most of the health care professionals are supposed to be ready to take care of the aging population. They should develop a positive attitude and develop proper skills on how to communicate with them concerning their daily needs, and this is an essential study that most of the health care professionals should embrace and make sure that they have enough experience to handle and take care of the aging population in various society set up.

Conclusion

The senior mentor program is an important program that should be embraced by most of the medical and nursing institutions because it will help to improve the way most of the aged people are handled(Halpin, Dillard, Idler, Clevenger, Rothschild, Blanton & Flacker, 2017). It equips most of the students and the mentors to acquire proper skills and knowledge on how to handle aging group in the society and develop a positive attitude towards them and make sure that their unique needs are catered for because most of the people fear handling them base on the kinds of the needs that they have.

References

Halpin, S. N., Dillard, R. L., Idler, E., Clevenger, C., Rothschild, E., Blanton, S., … & Flacker, J. M. (2017). The benefits of being a senior mentor: Cultivating resilience through the mentorship of health professions students. Gerontology & geriatrics education, 38(3), 283-294.