| | TOPIC: THE FUTURE OF GERIATRICS | | |
| | Major report says health care workforce too small, woefully unprepared for aging Baby Boomers
| | As the first of the nation's 78 million Baby Boomers begin reaching age 65 in 2011, they will face a health care workforce that is too small and woefully unprepared to meet their specific health needs, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, calls for bold initiatives starting immediately to train all health care providers in the basics of geriatric care and to prepare family members and other informal caregivers in how to tend to their aging loved ones. | |  |
|
|
 | Medical Editor Dr. Fredrick Sherman on 'geriatricizing' the health care workforce
| | In a 2003 editorial, I chided the US Senate Special Committee on Aging, whose members' median age was then 57, to train more health care providers in geriatrics so that distinguished group of Boomers would get better care when they got old. Not much happened! It's now 5 years later and the recently released Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce tells the nation what it must do -- again.
|
|  | Editor Margaret Mulligan on the Boomer surge and "the big three" of future geriatrics
| | In 12 years there will be more than 70 million seniors in the U.S. expecting access to high-quality medical care. Compared to their parents, the Boomers have experiences and expectations with health and aging that will create many more demands on the health system and providers. While that may not be all bad, they do have need of some reality checks.
|
|
|
The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, in a recent hearing, Caring For Our Seniors: How Can We Support Those On The Frontlines?, took testimony from experts, academicians and others advocating more support for those who will be providing health care for the coming surge of Baby Boomers. They included Martha Stewart, who founded the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and John Rowe, MD, Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City. He chaired the Institute of
Medicine's Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans which wrote the report Retooling for an Aging America, an examination of the aging population and its effect on the health care workforce.
|  |
|
|
|
Geriatric health care--managing the "crisis"| Throughout his medical career, Dr. Carl Hammerschlag has challenged conventional thinking. This is evidenced by his philosophy and execution of his medical practice, his lack of pretense, and his conviction that embracing change is the only way to manage it. In this 5-minute Consult, aka the Geriatrics interview, Dr. Hammerschlag shares his insights on how physicians and other health care providers can engage and assist patients and their families in the practice of geriatric medicine, especially in light of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) recent report on the state of the geriatric workforce. | 
Dr. Hammerschlag |
Does Alzheimer's really exist?
Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, MA, PhD, and Daniel George, MSc, have written The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis.
| This 5-minute Consult is with Dr. Whitehouse, a professor of neurology and former professor of cognitive science, psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, nursing, organizational behavior, bioethics and history at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and Mr. George, a graduate student at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. | 
Dr. Whitehouse |  Mr. George |
|
|
|
June 2008 | 
May 2008 | 
April 2008 |
For fully-searchable contents of complete issues go to Digital Editions. |
|
| Survival Benefit Seen with Extracorporeal CPR
| Modest advantage seen versus traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation following in-hospital cardiac arrest
| | July 8, 2008 | | Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was associated with improved survival rates at discharge, one month and one year following in-hospital cardiac arrest, according to an article published online July 7 in The Lancet. |
| | FDA Requests New Warning on Fluoroquinolone Labels
| The drugs increase the risk of tendon rupture and tendinitis
| | July 8, 2008 | | Manufacturers of fluoroquinolone antimicrobial drugs must add a boxed warning to the product labeling that explains the increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture in those taking the drugs, according to an alert issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. |
| | Relaxation Practices Affect Gene Expression
| Particularly affect genes involved in oxidative stress
| | July 8, 2008 | | Practices such as meditation, prayer and yoga that elicit the relaxation response affect gene expression, particularly genes involved in oxidative stress, even in short-term practitioners, researchers report in the July issue of PLoS ONE. |
| | Aerobic Training Reverses Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors
| Aggressive use of recommended prevention activities could lower U.S. rates of coronary artery disease and stroke
| | July 8, 2008 | | Patients randomized to aerobic interval training versus an equivalent amount of continuous moderate exercise experienced greater improvements in aerobic capacity and reversed more risk factors of the metabolic syndrome, according to an article published online July 7 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. |
| | Fat Hormone Predicts Coronary Artery Calcium
| Also predicted by insulin resistance measure in healthy adults
|
| July 8, 2008 | | High levels of the hormone leptin secreted by fat cells and a measure of insulin resistance are strong predictors of high coronary artery calcification in healthy asymptomatic adults at risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the results of a study in the July 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. |
|
| 
Geriatrics archives are now available on ModernMedicine.com, a new online resource designed to meet the evolving needs of physicians.