Elder Care

Magazine articles on caring for elders, and their special health issues.

Old Articles: <Older 81-90 Newer>

American Journal of Nursing May 2008 Carole A. Smyth	Evaluating Sleep Quality in Older Adults: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index can be used to detect sleep disturbances or deficits. Get more information on why it's important for nurses to screen older patients for sleep difficulties, as well as why the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index is the right tool for the job.
American Journal of Nursing May 2008	Why Screen For Sleep Problems in Older Patients? Sleep disturbances or deprivation or both have been linked with a range of negative outcomes.
American Journal of Nursing April 2008 Wallace & Shelkey	Monitoring Functional Status in Hospitalized Older Adults The Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living can help nurses detect subtle changes in health and prevent functional decline.
American Journal of Nursing April 2008 Carla Graf	The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale assesses a person's ability to perform tasks such as using a telephone, doing laundry, and handling finances. The scale may provide an early warning of functional decline.
Financial Planning April 1, 2008 Schroeder et al.	Long-Term Care Redefined As clients live longer, they increasingly need forms of assistance that aren't adequately covered by long-term-care insurance, and the cost of such assistance could easily torpedo the best-laid retirement and estate plans.
Financial Planning April 1, 2008 Ilana Polyak	Aging Matters Welcome to the new world of financial advice, where planners aren't just tending to clients' portfolios and income distribution models anymore, they're also looking out for their health -- or at least making sure that someone is.
American Journal of Nursing March 2008 Evans & Cotter	Avoiding Restraints in Patients with Dementia Understanding, prevention, and management are the keys to reducing restraint use.
American Journal of Nursing February 2008 DiMaria-Ghalili & Guenter	The Mini Nutritional Assessment This tool can identify malnutrition in older adults before changes in biochemistry or weight are evident.
American Journal of Nursing January 2008 Fick & Mion	How to Try This: Delirium Superimposed on Dementia Delirium is common in older adults who have dementia, but too often nurses confuse the symptoms of delirium with those of dementia and it goes unrecognized and untreated. Delirium can signal a serious underlying condition such as infection or dehydration.
American Journal of Nursing January 2008 Maslow & Mezey	Recognition of Dementia in Hospitalized Older Adults Recognition of Dementia in Hospitalized Older Adults proposes several approaches that hospital nurses can use to increase recognition of dementia. This article describes the Try This approaches, how to implement them, and how to incorporate them into a hospital's current admission procedures.
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