Aging caregivers of children with disabilities “pushed to the breaking point”
Tag: aging
Why do so many nursing home residents end up in emergency departments?
This January, Sylvia got a call from a nurse in her mother’s long-term care centre. Her mother, Angela, woke up “extremely agitated and crying in pain,” so the nurses sent her to the emergency department. Sylvia was worried about how her 92-year-old mom, who has dementia, would react to the trip – the lights, the…
Empowering the elderly in Japan: lessons for home care in Canada
It’s a question that’s been weighing on the minds of health care managers in Canada and many countries around the world: how will society meet the home and community care needs of an aging population? In trying to answer this question, it can be instructive to look at models around the world, and one that’s received…
Election 2015: The Health Care Debate
Improving appropriateness of antipsychotic use in long-term care
When prescribed appropriately – to treat psychosis related to a psychiatric condition like schizophrenia – antipsychotic medications can improve a patient’s quality of life. However, too often it appears antipsychotics are being prescribed to residents of Long-Term Care Homes (LTCH) to control behavioral symptoms of dementia (such as verbal or physical aggression) without a concurrent…
Stigma around dementia prevents people from accessing health care
Mary Beth Wighton has many good days. Like mother’s day, when her 20-year-old gave Wighton and her partner fishing licenses and the three spent the day looking out over the dock, laughing and casting out. She also has tough moments, like when she realized that she could no longer pay household bills on her own.…
How should doctors decide when a senior driver’s license should be reviewed?
Doctors are expected to report people who have a medical condition that prevents them from being able to drive safely. But the line between fit and unfit to drive is difficult to define, especially for seniors with multiple cognitive, sensory and/or physical issues. And as baby boomers age, doctors will increasingly have to weigh the…
Improving medication safety for the elderly
Mimi Roots is worried about her ninety year old mother, Maria. Maria lives alone and has multiple health issues: congestive heart failure, asthma, arthritis, gastrointestinal issues, and a thyroid that was surgically removed. She receives care from five specialists and her family doctor – and each prescribes their own set of medications. Maria takes a…
How far along are we in making hospitals more ‘senior friendly’?
Being hospitalized can have dramatic impacts on seniors’ wellness, and time spent in hospital contributes to loss of important functions such as strength and mobility – critical to their independence and wellbeing. Camilla Wong, a geriatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto says “hospitalization robs us of the things that are really important for older…
Caring for Canada’s seniors will take our entire health care workforce
Much of the focus on the health care needs of Canada’s aging population surrounds the shortage of physicians with expertise in care of older adults. But the country’s 75,000 licensed physicians represent only a small part of the Canadian health care workforce. By contrast, there are approximately 360,000 regulated nurses, 35,000 social workers, 30,000 pharmacists,…
Who will care for Canada’s seniors?
Our health care system faces a disturbing paradox. While seniors represent the fastest growing age group in Canada, the country faces a growing deficiency of specialist physicians with expertise in caring for the elderly. But with seniors accounting for nearly half of all the country’s hospitalizations and visiting their family physician twice as often as younger…
Supporting Ontario’s unpaid caregivers
Anne Harrison lives in Huron County with her husband. For nearly two and half years, her husband was medicated for anxiety and stress he was experiencing at work. The medication didn’t help. They didn’t know what was wrong, and worried he might have a brain tumor. In June of 2011, her local family health team,…
Improving quality and safety in Ontario’s nursing homes
Recent media reports have highlighted the problem of neglect in nursing homes. Reports from the long-term care sector, in response, have focused on how the quality of care in nursing homes could be improved. However, measuring the quality of nursing home care can be a challenge. Rob Sargeant is a general internist at St. Michael’s…
Advance care planning: a difficult conversation
Advance care planning is an important process by which people think about how they would like to be cared for if they are seriously ill. While most Canadians agree that having conversations about advance care planning are important, fewer than half actually do. In some jurisdictions, advance care planning is done much better than it…
Controversies about Community Care Access Centres and home care
Shortened hospital lengths of stay, and a growing number of people living with chronic diseases has meant that more Ontarians than ever are receiving health care services in their homes. In 2010, the Ontario Auditor General raised concerns about the quality and value of home care services, some of which remain outstanding. Resolving these issues…
House calls and Ontario’s election
In the run up to the Ontario election, the Liberal party has promised $60 million to support physician house calls. The number of doctors who make house calls has declined markedly over the past fifty years, and only a small proportion of Ontario family doctors currently provide ongoing care to patients in their homes. What…
Why don’t more doctors do house calls?
Over the last fifty years, doctors have been making fewer and fewer house calls. There is little doubt that patients value physician house calls, particularly from a doctor with whom they have an ongoing relationship. Lack of appropriate training and mentors, financial disincentives, and the changing culture of family medicine are all barriers to increasing…
Will the aging population bankrupt our health care system?
Many politicians, doctors and the public believe that aging of the population is the main cause of increased health care costs. If this is true, this paints an exceptionally worrying picture about the sustainability of health care in the future. However, somewhat surprisingly, the majority of researchers don’t believe that aging plays a major role…
Waiting for long-term care in Ontario
The Ontario Health Quality council reported in 2010 that wait times for a long-term care bed in Ontario have tripled since 2005. A substantial number of people who are waiting for long-term care – and some who are currently in long-term care – could be cared for at home or in “assisted living” facilities…