Geriatric Failure to Thrive: A Multidimensional Problem

The purpose of this course is to educate nurses, social workers, and other healthcare providers regarding geriatric failure to thrive and to promote evidence-based clinical practice when caring for patients with this condition. In addition, members of the public may use this course to enhance their personal knowledge of the subject matter presented.


Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:


1. Define the various conditions responsible for unintended weight loss in geriatric patients, including geriatric failure to thrive.

2. Analyze various ethical and legal issues that can arise when treating geriatric failure to thrive patients and the role of advance directives in ameliorating some of these issues.

3. Outline necessary components of the physical assessment and differential diagnosis of geriatric failure to thrive.

4. Evaluate the role of polypharmacy in unintended weight loss in elderly patients.

5. Describe the role of mental health screening in geriatric failure to thrive patients.

6. Create a treatment plan for a geriatric failure to thrive patients, including possible pharmacotherapy approaches and areas for monitoring and follow-up.

7. Identify geriatric failure to thrive patients for whom hospice referral should be considered.


This 5-hour continuing education course is available for download for professional development; if continuing education credit is desired, please see instructions included in eBook.