What would really improve health care? In his blog on the Huffington Post published Sunday, February 6, 2011, Dr. Richard Besdine of Brown University offers one word: geriatrics. In the context of health reform, Dr. Besdine eloquently presents the need for more geriatricians and more researchers and academics with geriatric…
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I can’t deny it—I miss the mother I once had. Even at age 80, she was vibrant, loving, and independent. And she was strong. For nearly 20 years she provided care to my father, who before his death struggled with normal-pressure hydrocephalus and macular degeneration. What an incredible woman…
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If you're like me, at national meetings you cruise the display booths in the convention halls trying to keep a finger on the pulse of the field. I usually come away weighed down with reports, freebie journals, and fliers. When eventually I recycle the build-up, I've often only benefited from…
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For the past 15 years, the John A. Hartford Foundation has invested over $70 million dollars in geriatric nursing initiatives: faculty development awards and opportunities to support emerging nurse educators and leaders; curricular efforts to embed aging into all levels of nursing education; development of tools and resources to increase…
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I sometimes wonder why anyone in the world goes into academic medicine and research. The grueling years of training, the barrage of rejection that comes with submitting grants, the pressures to “publish or perish,” the never-ending balancing act between time in the lab, classroom, clinic, and--oh, yeah--home, where family and…
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As always, I read the new article by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker, The Hot Spotters, with great anticipation and high expectations. His topic was a perennial in geriatric care — targeting — the idea of finding those particular people who need and can benefit from an intervention and…
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Last week, Chris Langston wrote that the words “long-term care” are the three scariest in aging. “Many people will tell you they would rather die than go to a nursing home,” he continued. Yet, as Cory Rieder wrote in 2009, often long-term care may be the right choice for many…
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"Long-term care." These are probably the three scariest words in aging. They scare people more than death itself because of the loss of capability and independence they imply. You come to need long-term care because you are unable to fully take care of yourself (e.g., get dressed, prepare meals, or…
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For those of you who haven’t yet heard, I have recently been diagnosed with Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer. This rare form of breast cancer is known for its rapid spread. True to form, it has metastasized to my spine. This means my time is limited. As a nurse, I…
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There are many unique features doctors need to consider when caring for geriatric patients--multiple chronic illnesses, increasing rates of cognitive impairment, the need to focus on maintaining function, and of course the undeniable proximity of death. This last feature modifies schedules for testing and the value of treatments to reduce…
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