Age-specific Care

✅ Reviewed for accuracy and relevance by Deanna Cooper Gillingham, RN, CCM, FCM on June 26, 2025.

Accreditation bodies, such as The Joint Commission (TJC) and URAC, require organizations to define the client population(s) they serve and the age groups within that client population. The healthcare organization is responsible for evaluating staff competence to meet the needs and behaviors of the age groups it serves.

Many organizations define the following four client population categories:

  • Neonatal and infant
  • Child and adolescent
  • Adult
  • Geriatric

Each age group possesses unique characteristics:

  • Physical, including motor/sensory attributes
  • Psychosocial and developmental tasks
  • Cognitive and intellectual functioning
  • Major fears and stressors

Case managers apply age-specific considerations when:

  • Performing a physical assessment and interpreting the findings
  • Assessing and addressing nutritional status
  • Communicating
  • Involving the client in care and decision-making
  • Providing instruction and education
  • Selecting medical equipment and supplies
  • Assisting the patient to cope
  • Assessing risk for injury and instituting preventive measures

Age-specific groups

Neonate: ages 1 day to 28 days

Psychosocial developmental task – Trust versus mistrust: the ability to rely on others

Infant: ages 29 days to 1 year

Psychosocial developmental task – Trust versus mistrust: the ability to rely on others

Toddler/Early childhood: ages 1 to 3 years

Psychosocial developmental task – Autonomy versus shame or doubt: sense of personal control over physical skills, sense of independence

Child: ages 3 to 12 years

Preschool/Play-age: ages 3 years to 5 years

Psychosocial developmental task – Initiative versus guilt: exploring and seeking answers, feeling guilt for making a mistake or disappointing parents

School-age: ages 6 to 12 years

Psychosocial developmental task – Industry versus inferiority: making things, solving problems, and mastering tasks to build confidence and prevent feelings of inadequacy

Adolescent: ages 13 to 18 years

Subcategories: Young adolescents (13-15 years) and older adolescents (16-18 years)

Psychosocial developmental task – Identity formation versus identity confusion: searching for a sense of self and personal identity through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals; may include separating from parents and authority figures and developing relationships with the opposite sex

Adult: ages 19 to 65 years

Young adult: ages 20 to 29 years

Psychosocial developmental task – Intimacy versus self-isolation: forming an intimate, loving, and committed relationship with another person

Adults: ages 30 to 65 years

Psychosocial developmental task – Generativity (“leaving a legacy”) versus self-absorption: contributing to the next generation and society, equally concerned with providing for others and providing for oneself

Elder: 65 years and older

Subcategories: young-old (65-75 years), old (75-85 years), old-old (85 years and older)

Psychosocial developmental task – Ego integrity versus despair: the contemplation of accomplishments and the acceptance of the life lived

This article shares a portion of the information covered on this topic in CCM Certification Made Easy, 4th Edition by Deanna Cooper Gillingham, RN, CCM, FCM (2025). For more details on this topic, including risk assessment and teaching for each stage as well as related concepts, purchase your copy at CCMCertificationMadeEasy.com.