Role of community health nurse in the prevention of elderly dehydration: A mini-review

Abstract

As dehydration is related to negative health outcomes in the elderly, including an increased risk of disability and death, prevention may help improve health, functional status, and quality of life. Dehydration diagnosis can be challenging in the elderly as the traditional physical indications of dehydration may be absent or ambiguous. Numerous etiologies place the elderly at an increased risk. The role of the community health nurse (CHN) derives from the responsibilities attached to her, and the Betty Neuman's Systems Model of health care with three levels of protection is usually applied to the CHN. In this mini-review, we try to integrate the Betty Neuman's Systems Model with the results of identified articles. This study includes a literature search of reputable international databases such as SpringerLink, PubMed, Embase, and Wanfang, particularly for the period 2005 to the present. Ten articles that met the qualifying criteria were included in this study. The findings of this study draw a picture of the role of CHN in preventing dehydration across the three levels of prevention as mentioned by Betty Neuman.