At the beginning of this course, my baseline views on gerontology in nursing were negative. I have not had much experience with taking care of the older population. I feel like my previous thoughts would be that these people are always upset about growing older and have negative views of the world now. My views on gerontology in my personal life are slightly different as I am comfortable around older people but have thought that they are always thinking about the future. I can understand now how their thoughts about the future can affect their mental health and subsequent views of the world. I have never thought about becoming a gerontological nurse. I have had my heart set on the opposite, pediatric nursing. I feel like part of the reason why is that children have no prior knowledge about the world around them and have a more optimistic perspective on the future. 

I feel like my views on how the elderly population is unknowledgeable have changed. I think as nurses it is our responsibility to educate and inform our patients about medications, procedures, diagnoses, etc. This is the same for all populations. Nurses can help the older community learn and grow as they can do the same for us. Everyone has a different perspective that we can use to learn from. I will use the information about sexuality, polypharmacy, and elder abuse that I have learned in this class in my conversations with my gerontological patients. I feel that I will be better prepared to facilitate health conversations about sexuality and support patients who have always wanted to be a part of the LGBTQA+ community. I hope to use the knowledge I have gained about the nurse’s responsibility of understanding medications and performing adequate medication reconciliations in my care of all older patients. Medications can greatly alter a person’s health and this is a way we can help them feel better. Lastly, I hope to be able to spot the signs of elder abuse to stop this dangerous cycle. I will be able to recognize the warning signs and properly report this issue. 

One of the main takeaways from this course is the importance of exercise on our health in the future. Exercise is a tedious act in my opinion since being in nursing school and having different priorities. This class has highlighted the ways exercise can minimize future chronic illnesses and enhance our well-being. I hope my legacy will be that I have always been kind, hardworking, and fully myself. I would like to be remembered as someone who is unapologetically themselves and has lived their life to the fullest.