Sunday, February 04, 2007

Good medical care for the elderly: a guide for caregivers

Good medical care for the elderly: a guide for caregivers: "'I now know that the primary caregiver is the person most likely to know when a loved one needs medical attention.

Some of the book's major messages are:

• Family caregivers do not need medical training to be effective members of the caregiving team.

• Most medical caregivers have little or no training in geriatrics, making misdiagnosis a serious danger.

• The elderly are most at risk to suffer medication errors, adverse drug reactions, delirium, dehydration, malnutrition, and to fall because of age-related problems.

• Family caregivers are able to detect subtle changes in the status of their loved ones and should advocate for an accurate diagnosis and proper treatment.

• Family caregivers are in a good position to work with medical caregivers to prevent complications.

• Family caregivers can protect their loved ones and themselves by utilizing clearly written, legal documents that will make their decisions about end-of-life care enforceable.

"This book enables me to give confidence to the elderly and to their caregivers," said Hannah. "I want them to know that you don't need a medical degree to be effective. The caregiver spends more time with their loved one than anyone."

1 comment:

  1. Your website contains a lot of useful info for patients. I liked the articles on Information therapy by Vasumathy and others.If you come across books on gerontology / geriatrics kindly alert me. Thanks

    ReplyDelete

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