Long Term Care For Frail Older People

The aging of society is a growing concern in all advanced nations, and at the forefront of concern is long-term care for frail older people. Enactment of a new public long-term care insurance program by the Japanese government in 1997 provided an excellent opportunity for a conference focusing on an ideal long-term care system for frail older people. The conference was organized around four major themes: Social aspects, including family dynamics and the role of formal providers; Clinical aspects, including effective treatments for physical and mental disabilities; Macroeconomic and macropolitical settings for public policy; Program design and management issues. With contributions from the fields of medicine, nursing, social work, gerontology, political science, economics, and sociology, this volume provides an overview of key problems and possible solutions in programs for frail older people from a unique international perspective.

Among the issues confronting America is long-term care for frail, older persons and others with chronic conditions and functional limitations that limit their ability to care for themselves. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care takes a comprehensive look at the quality of care and quality of life in long-term care, including nursing homes, home health agencies, residential care facilities, family members and a variety of others. This book describes the current state of long-term care, identifying problem areas and offering recommendations for federal and state policymakers. Who uses long-term care? How have the characteristics of this population changed over time? What paths do people follow in long term care? The committee provides the latest information on these and other key questions. This book explores strengths and limitations of available data and research literature especially for settings other than nursing homes, on methods to measure, oversee, and improve the quality of long-term care. The committee makes recommendations on setting and enforcing standards of care, strengthening the caregiving workforce, reimbursement issues, and expanding the knowledge base to guide organizational and individual caregivers in improving the quality of care.

This book discusses all important aspects of emergency medicine in older people, identifying the particular care needs of this population, which all too often remain unmet. The up-to-date and in-depth coverage will assist emergency physicians in identifying patients at risk for adverse outcomes, in conducting appropriate assessment,and in providing timely and adequate care. Particular attention is paid to the commonpitfalls in emergency management andmeans of avoiding them. Between 1980 and 2013, the number of older patients in emergency departmentsworldwide doubled. Compared with younger patients, older people suffer from more comorbidities, a higher mortality rate, require more complex assessment and diagnostic testing, and tend to stay longer in the emergency department. This book, written by internationally recognized experts in emergency medicine and geriatrics, not only presents the state of the art in the care of this population but also underlines the increasing need for adequate training and development in the field.

This unique book studies America's frail older population relative to the elderly in ten other nations. It contains a cross-national assessment of approaches to long-term care for the elderly and explains the nature and extent of current and future problems related to caring for the functionally impaired elderly. By studying and analyzing the ongoing struggles of other nations in their attempts to cope with growing populations of frail elderly, readers in the U.S. can expand the parameters of their own national debate on the subject. The Graying of the World shows the political, economic, and social context in which decisions on elder-care are based and evaluates how successful various countries'programs have been. Chapters outline alternative approaches taken by disparate types of national systems, highlighting unique and creative solutions to provide useful information on new and alternative ways to respond to personal and public issues related to elder-care. The elderly and their care in Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, People's Republic of China, Sweden, and Yugoslavia are discussed, as are the elderly in Canada and the United States. Chapters cover the following topics for each country: the increasing number of frail elderly and their costly health needs the current and future role of the state in elder-care the current and future role of the family in elder-care types of support services offered for the elderly, including in-home care, community-based care, and institutional care the relationship of a nation's political economy to its attitude and policy on long-term care innovative approaches to elder-care Practitioners, decision makers, and the concerned general public will all find The Graying of the World an interesting and informative book that expands the discussion of health care options available for the elderly. As such, the book is also a helpful text for undergraduate and beginning graduate students of gerontology, public policy, and comparative politics, as well as for social service practitioners. It provokes much-needed conversation on developing a healthcare plan for the future that meets the needs of a large elderly population.

Institutionalization of the Elderly in Canada provides information regarding the care of elderly people in long-term care institutions in Canada. The monograph presents the nature and operation of the system of long-term institutional care of the elderly in Canada. The book provides a definition and historical outline of institutional care; the various types of available facilities, and the populations for which these institutions are designed; and the issues concerning the interface between community-oriented services and institutions. The health and functional abilities of the elderly and the programs which may be needed for the care of the long-stay elderly resident; issues on attitudes towards institutionalization, excessive medication, inappropriate placement and divided jurisdictional responsibility; and the quality and outcomes of care and the implications of government policy and programs are extensively discussed as well. Gerontologists, healthcare professionals, and medical administrators will find the book of value.

Among the issues confronting America is long-term care for frail, older persons and others with chronic conditions and functional limitations that limit their ability to care for themselves. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care takes a comprehensive look at the quality of care and quality of life in long-term care, including nursing homes, home health agencies, residential care facilities, family members and a variety of others. This book describes the current state of long-term care, identifying problem areas and offering recommendations for federal and state policymakers. Who uses long-term care? How have the characteristics of this population changed over time? What paths do people follow in long term care? The committee provides the latest information on these and other key questions. This book explores strengths and limitations of available data and research literature especially for settings other than nursing homes, on methods to measure, oversee, and improve the quality of long-term care. The committee makes recommendations on setting and enforcing standards of care, strengthening the caregiving workforce, reimbursement issues, and expanding the knowledge base to guide organizational and individual caregivers in improving the quality of care.

Family caregiving affects millions of Americans every day, in all walks of life. At least 17.7 million individuals in the United States are caregivers of an older adult with a health or functional limitation. The nation's family caregivers provide the lion's share of long-term care for our older adult population. They are also central to older adults' access to and receipt of health care and community-based social services. Yet the need to recognize and support caregivers is among the least appreciated challenges facing the aging U.S. population. Families Caring for an Aging America examines the prevalence and nature of family caregiving of older adults and the available evidence on the effectiveness of programs, supports, and other interventions designed to support family caregivers. This report also assesses and recommends policies to address the needs of family caregivers and to minimize the barriers that they encounter in trying to meet the needs of older adults.

This book provides a unique analysis of provider-, environment-, client-, and societal-based obstacles to the empowerment of frail elderly persons in a philosophical framework of social values, as well as an applied framework wherein a variety of international case studies by a distinguished board of contributors provide concrete examples of the feasibility of achieving real empowerment. Empowerment means different things to different people in the context of housing, health, and social service delivery. This book analyzes the various definitions of the concept and practice of the empowerment of frail older persons and then discusses the definitions in a philosophical framework of social values regarding aging and the older person. Each chapter demonstrates the feasibility of achieving increased empowerment of older persons, even those with severe physical or mental disability. True empowerment of older persons in every country requires time, energy, money, and commitment to the goal. This book will be of interest to academic as well as professional audiences in areas of Gerontology, Psychology, Sociology, and Family Studies. Caregivers and policymakers will also find this analysis useful.