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According to Erdman B. Palmore, a professor emeritus of gerontology at Duke University, “The way our society devalues older people could contribute to their neglect and abuse on some occasions.” One Alzheimer’s patient cried out for water before going to the hospital with dehydration. Another broke an eye socket when a wheelchair rolled down a […]
Attitudes About the Elderly Affect Their Treatment Read More »
If our aging family members and friends are to continue to live robustly and in the best possible health, we need bold initiatives, says a report commissioned by the Institute of Medicine. The Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans studied the health care needs of Americans over 65 years of age
Will the Healthcare Workforce be Adequate as Our Population Ages? Read More »
The most significant difference between locations was the hourly wage of Home Health Aides (HHAs), causing consumers in the most expensive markets to spend nearly seven times more than those in the least expensive markets. In addition to HHAs, the cost of nursing home care differed greatly across the country. For example, residents of Lafayette,
But perhaps even more disturbing, however, is a study by Consumer Reports that found that state regulators fined only 50% of nursing homes whose misconduct warranted fines. Make no mistake about it—pressure sores, malnutrition, dehydration, and falls in nursing homes are not the inevitable consequence of old age and ill health. They are, all too
The federal government now has a revamped and simplified approach to its evaluations of nursing homes, in order to make the task of choosing the right one easier for families. Like the system the government uses for rating Medicare health and drug plans, the Nursing Home Compare site now gives nursing homes from 1 to 5
The 10 Worst States for Nurse Staffing in Nursing Homes & Other Comparative Data Read More »
“In a recent federal government study on the quality of care in nursing homes, 91% of all nursing homes were cited for deficient care between 2005 and 2007– the most recent years for which final data is available. Not surprisingly, deficiencies were greater in number at for-profit homes than at those operating as non-profit institutions.”
An Unacceptable Rate of Deficiencies Read More »
“Pressure ulcers are increasingly common in U.S. hospitalizations. In 2006, there were 503,300 hospital stays during which pressure ulcers were noted—a 78.9 percent increase from 1993 when there were about 281,300 hospital stays related to pressure ulcers. During this same time period, the total number of hospitalizations increased by only 15 percent. Stays with a
Hospitalizations Related to Pressure Ulcers Read More »
Bone formation appears to be controlled by serotonin, a chemical previously known mainly for its entirely separate role in the brain, researchers are reporting. Osteoporosis affects 10 million Americans over age 50. It results in bone loss, and its hallmark is fragile bones that break easily. But in a paper published online Wednesday in the
Bone Finding May Point to Hope for Osteoporosis Read More »
“For the depressed public, it should be another reason to take one’s symptoms seriously and look for treatment,” said study co-author Stephen Kritchevsky, director of the Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. People with depression were twice as likely as others to gain visceral fat — the kind that surrounds
Depression Leads to Internal Body Fat in 70-Somethings, Study Suggests Read More »
Recent studies show that elderly patients taking Avandia, or also known as rosiglitazone, have a 15% higher death rate than those taking a similar drug Actos, also known as pioglitazone. Specifically, the drug appears to increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes or other cardiovascular events. While additional research is suggested by the medical community,
Diabetes Drug Linked with Higher Risk of Death in Elderly Read More »