Prepare your students for successful gerontological practice! Focusing on the content that students need to know for effective practice, this text offers engaging, evidence-based coverage of the aging process, factors contributing to healthy aging, and unique aspects of disease presentation and management in older adults. Updated to help students meet the challenges of this increasingly diverse population, the ninth edition retains its acclaimed holistic approach through insightful coverage of the psychosocial, legal, ethical, and spiritual elements of patient care. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NINTH EDITION Concept Mastery Alerts improve students' understanding of potentially confusing topics, as identified by Lippincott's Adaptive Learning Powered by prepU. Consider This Case, Bringing Research to Life, Practice Realities, and Critical Thinking Exercises make concepts come alive and show students how the concepts they are learning are applied in real-life contexts. In-text learning aids--including bolded key terms, communication tips, points to ponder, key concepts, and chapter summaries--help students master important material. Nursing Diagnosis Highlights provide overviews of common diagnoses, covering causes to interventions in an easy-to-understand manner. Nursing Care Plans outline diagnosis, goal, and action for selected health conditions, giving students practical models for effective health care planning. Assessment Guides walk students through general observation, the history-taking interview, and the physical examination. To develop highly capable nurses and promote sound clinical reasoning skills, the ninth edition is supported by Wolters Kluwer's suite of best-in-class digital solutions, including prepU (adaptive quizzing), DocuCare (educational EHR software), and vSim (realistic virtual simulations co-developed by Laerdal Medical and Wolters Kluwer, which are based on the NLN ACE.S Unfolding Cases).