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Course Description
This course equips nurses with essential skills to conduct a geriatric assessment, focusing on holistic and person-centered care for older adults. It covers essential components of geriatric assessment, focused history taking, physical and functional assessments, cognitive and mental health screening, nutrition evaluation, comorbidity and medication review, social, environmental and quality of life assessment, as well as frailty and fall-risk assessment. This course unit is delivered through lecture discussions, clinical training including case-based learning, practical demonstration and independent learning. The course prepares nurses to work within interdisciplinary teams to improve health outcomes, promote independence, and enhance quality of life in geriatric patients.
How this course was Designed
How this course was Designed
The design of this course is grounded in student-centered learning and competence-based education, ensuring that nursing students actively engage in the learning process and develop the practical skills required for high-quality care of older adults. The course was developed with the philosophy that effective geriatric assessment requires not only theoretical knowledge but also repeated practice, clinical reasoning, and compassionate communication. Therefore, learning activities were structured to promote independent inquiry, hands-on assessment practice, reflection, and problem-solving based on real scenarios commonly encountered in geriatric nursing.
Theoretical Foundations
Theoretical Foundations
The course is grounded in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, which emphasizes learning through concrete experience, reflection, conceptual understanding, and active application. It also aligns with Competency-Based Education (CBE), ensuring that learners acquire the essential skills required for safe and effective geriatric assessment.
This theory supports a practice-oriented approach, essential for developing the clinical reasoning and hands-on skills needed for geriatric assessment. It helps bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world clinical performance, improving nurses’ confidence and competence in assessing older adults across multidimensional domains. The course is delivered using the above-mentioned theoretical underpinning under the following stages.
Introduce core concepts of geriatric assessment through interactive lectures and case-based discussions.
Provide guided clinical demonstrations using standardized patients, videos, and skills-lab activities.
Engage students in supervised clinical practice, allowing them to apply assessment tools in real clinical settings.
Facilitate reflection through debriefings, peer discussion, and feedback sessions.
Assess competency using checklists, OSCEs, and reflective portfolios
Lecturer's Profile
Lecturer's Profile
The lecturer assigned to teach this course should possess the following qualifications, expertise, and professional competencies.
Academic Qualifications:
A bachelor’s degree in nursing or a related health science discipline (minimum requirement).
A Master’s degree or higher qualification in Nursing, Gerontology, Geriatrics, Community Health, or a closely related field is strongly preferred.
Additional training or certification in geriatric care, geriatric assessment, or healthy aging is an advantage.
Professional Expertise:
Demonstrated clinical experience in caring for older adults in hospital, community, long-term older care centres, or primary care settings.
Practical proficiency in conducting Geriatric assessments, including physical, functional, cognitive, psychological, social, and nutritional assessment domains.
Familiarity with validated geriatric assessment tools (e.g., ADL/IADL scales, cognitive screening tools, fall risk assessments, depression scales).
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Describe the significance of geriatric nursing assessment.
Describe appropriate assessment tools used in geriatric assessment and match them to the corresponding nursing phenomena.
Demonstrate competencies in geriatric assessment and utilize assessment tools appropriately.
Perform geriatric assessment for patients/clients with different geriatric conditions and syndromes.
Connected Good Educational Practices
Connected Good Educational Practices
This course covers cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains and clearly aligns with the predefined learning outcomes. The content is based on professional standards and regulations, and considers global and local professional standards and procedures. All the constructive alignments are considered with teaching methods, learning activities and assessment methods that are directly with the learning outcomes. Also, the course includes active learning strategies such as problem-based learning and skills-based learning strategies. The lecture materials are uploaded to the learning management systems (LMS), which include recorded materials, clinical and case-based guide and other relevant interactive teaching materials.
Implementation Process
Implementation Process
1. Course Preparation
Before the course begins, the course coordinator should:
Upload teaching materials (lecture slides, clinical guides, video demonstrations) to the LMS.
Organize skills-lab resources, including assessment tools such as ADL/IADL forms, cognitive screening tools, gait assessment tools, and nutrition screening forms.
Prepare clinical demonstration guides (physical assessment, cognitive screening, mobility assessment).
Schedule clinical placements in geriatric wards, community settings, or older care homes.
Meet with the clinical instructors to align expectations and competency.
2. Week by week structure
Week 1: Introduction
Overview of population ageing and the purpose of geriatric assessment
Lecture discussion on different geriatric assessment domains.
Activities: Ice-breaker, group discussion on challenges in older care, short quiz.
Week 2: History taking and physical assessment
Overview of history taking and physical assessment
Practical demonstration of geriatric history taking and physical assessments.
Activities: Case scenario discussions, group discussions
Week 3: Physical & Functional assessment, frailty and falls assessment
Demonstration in skills lab: mobility assessment, balance tests, ADL/IADL evaluation.
Activities: Paired practice, case-based discussion.
Formative feedback from the lecturer on technique and documentation.
Week 4: Cognitive & Psychological Assessment
Demonstration: Mini-Cog, MMSE, depression screening, etc.
Activities: Simulation/role-play with standardized patients.
Week 5: Comorbidities, medication, and polypharmacy
Demonstration: Use different assessment tools for the comorbidities, medication, and polypharmacy
Activities: Case-based discussions, case scenarios.
Week 6: Nutritional & Quality of Life and Social assessment
Guided practice on nutritional screening tools, quality of life assessment and social support assessment.
Activities: Group analysis of case scenarios; designing a simple care plan.
Week 7: Integrated Geriatric assessment in clinical practice
Students perform supervised GA on patients during clinical placement.
Activities: bedside assessments, documentation, daily debriefing sessions.
Formative assessment: Clinical training checklist.
Week 8: Care Planning and OSCE
Integration of all assessment domains into a complete geriatric assessment.
Activities: Small-group case presentations, peer feedback
Summative assessment: OSCE with relevant geriatric assessments.
Assessment
Assessment
Formative: Expert feedback, Group assignment, peer feedback
Summative: Case presentation, Case study, Theory (SEQ, MCQ, OSCE, OSPE)
Formative Assessment:
Formative assessments are conducted continuously throughout the course to enhance and guide student learning. Approaches such as expert feedback, group assignments, and peer feedback provide students with ongoing opportunities to reflect on their progress and improve their performance. Expert feedback offers professional insights, group assignments foster teamwork and problem-solving skills, and peer feedback encourages self-reflection and collaborative learning.
Summative Assessment:
Summative assessments are carried out at the end of the course unit to determine the degree to which students have achieved the intended learning outcomes. Evaluation tools such as case presentations, case studies, and theory examinations—including Structured Essay Questions (SEQ), Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQ), Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE), and Objective Structured Practical Examinations (OSPE)—assess both theoretical knowledge and practical competencies. These methods allow for a comprehensive measurement of clinical reasoning, problem-solving abilities, and hands-on skills.
Alignment with Course Competencies:
All the course competencies are systematically evaluated through this combination of formative and summative assessment methods. Each method is intentionally selected to align with the specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes expected from students. Through constructive alignment, the teaching–learning activities, assessment strategies, and learning outcomes are closely linked, ensuring that students are assessed on what they are expected to learn. This alignment enhances transparency, maintains academic rigor, and ensures that the assessments genuinely reflect students’ achievement of the course competencies.
Educational Videos
Educational Videos
The videos demonstrate the way to perform and interpret common assessments including Administration of Barthel Index (Barthel Index.mp4), performing of clock drawing test to check the early signs of dementia (Clock Drawing Test.mp4), administration of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21.mp4), administration of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS.mp4), administration of Hendrich II Fall Risk Model (Hendrich II Fall Risk Model.mp4), administration of Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living Scale (Katz Index of IDL.mp4), administration of Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (Lawton IADL.mp4), administration of Mini Mental State Examination to screen cognitive impairment (MMSE.mp4), administration of Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS Social Support.mp4), administration of Older People’s Quality of Life Questionnaire (OPQOL.mp4)
Clock Drawing Test.mp4Resources and References
Resources and References
American Geriatrics Society (AGS). (2019). Clinical Practice Guideline for the Prevention of Falls in Older Persons. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 67(1), 1–46. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). (2023).
American Nurses Association (ANA). (2020). Gerontological Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (3rd ed.).
Bernstein, M.A., & Luggen, A.S. (2020). Nutrition for the older adult (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
British Geriatrics Society (BGS). (2014). Fit for Frailty: Consensus best practice guidance for the care of older people living with frailty in community and outpatient settings. BGS and Royal College of General Practitioners.
Clegg, A., Young, J., Iliffe, S., Rikkert, M.O., & Rockwood, K. (2013). Frailty in elderly people. The Lancet, 381(9868), 752–762.
Elbeddini, A. (2023). Deprescribing and polypharmacy in an aging population. Springer Nature.
Eliopoulos, C. (2022). Gerontological Nursing (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Ellis, G. et al. (2017). Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment for older adults.
Falls in older people: Assessing risk and prevention. NICE Guideline NG210.
Geirsdóttir, Ó.G., & Bell, J.J. (Eds.). (2021). Interdisciplinary nutritional management and care for older adults: An evidence-based practical guide for nurses (1st ed.). Springer Nature.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63892-4Hodges, J.R. (2007). Cognitive assessment in clinical neuropsychology. Oxford University Press.
Hunter, S., & Miller, C.A. (2016). Nursing for wellness in older adults. Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Jandu, J.S. (2024). Strategies to reduce polypharmacy in older adults. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK574550/
Kolb, D. (2014). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development.
Lawton, M.P. (1991). A multidimensional view of quality of life in frail elders. In J. E. Birren, J. E. Lubben, J. C. Rowe, & D. E. Deutchman (Eds.), The concept and measurement of quality of life in the frail elderly (pp. 3–27). Academic Press.
Lawton, M. P., & Nahemow, L. (1973). Ecology and the aging process. In C. Eisdorfer & M. P. Lawton (Eds.), The psychology of adult development and aging (pp. 619–674). American Psychological Association.
Lichtenberg, P.A. (2014). The mental health of older people (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Miller, C.A. (2018). Nursing for wellness in older adults (8th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Pachana, N.A., & Chan, K.K.H. (2015). Geriatric neuropsychology: Assessment and intervention. Cambridge University Press.
Rathnayake, Sarath. Text Book of Gerontological Nursing. Sarasavi Publishers, 2024. ISBN 9553129811; ISBN-13 978-9553129819.
The WHOQOL Group. (1998). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment. Psychological Medicine, 28(3), 551–558.
Tinetti, M. (2019). Principles of geriatric assessment.
Touhy, T.A., & Jett, K. F. (2023). “Toward Healthy Aging: Human Needs and Nursing Response” (11th ed.).
Woods, B., & Byrne, R.W. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook of the clinical psychology of aging (2nd ed.). Wiley.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2007). Global Age-friendly Cities: A Guide. World Health Organization.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2017). Integrated care for older people (ICOPE): Guidelines on community-level interventions to manage declines in intrinsic capacity. World Health Organization.
Zagaria, M.A. (Ed.). (2018). Polypharmacy: An issue of Clinics in Geriatric Medicine. Elsevier.
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