Adapting the environment to age-related sensory losses

Alteration of the environment to compensate for age-related sensory losses as well as common pathological sensory losses is necessary to maintain the independent living of many elderly people. Thorough knowledge of the changes in vision, taste, smell, kinesthesia, touch, and hearing that accompany the aging process is essential to the nurse practitioner for accurately assessing environmental alteration. By applying Dorothea Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory, this article illustrates ways for the nurse practitioner to prevent hazards, adapt institutional settings, and support successful independent living. It focuses on adapting the environment to the normal sensory physiological changes that occur with aging, and identifies some common pathological processes that concur with these losses.