As Gerontology comes to an end, I find myself reflecting on the new things I have learned this semester regarding the older population. One of the first things I remember realizing in this course was society’s negative views of the older population and how it can sometimes impact how we treat them without us being aware. Things like holding doors or helping someone older can be seen as giving into learned helplessness in which I had never stepped back to think about this before. By learning this, I can now assess certain situations in which I may be working with an older individual and determine if by helping this individual I am benefitting them or contributing to societal norms that I have seen throughout my life.

            Apart from learning about the importance of recognizing bias, I also learned about the importance of hospice care and the goals of it as well. Prior to this class, I had the idea that hospice care was where individuals with a terminal diagnosis went to comfortably pass with the support of family and friends. However, after our lecture and the VR experience regarding Clay and end of life care, I became more aware that there is so much more to hospice care than simply death and dying. In the VR experience, one of the nurses said that” The goal of hospice care is to give individuals with a terminal illness more good days than bad,” in which this made me think differently regarding hospice care and its purpose. I believe by having a better understanding of hospice care that I will be able to care for my patients who fear death and dying in a more caring and thoughtful manner than before.

            Lastly, after finishing Gerontology I have come to have a new appreciation for the older population. One of the classes where this appreciation became quite prominent to me was the class on sexuality in which we learned about the “silent generation” when individuals had to hide their sexuality from the public eye for their own safety. During this class we watched a documentary regarding this in which it took place in Massachusetts, somewhere rather close to home. After watching this documentary and having a better understanding for what they went through personally firsthand I felt saddened that I could not do anything to help. However, after taking this class I know I can make an impact somehow by being more patient, understanding, and appreciative when working with the older population in which I believe is a valuable lesson I will take with me throughout practice.