The Wall Street Journal reports on new resources for caregivers.
Home Instead Senior Care has started training its home-care workers in new techniques and strategies to improve care for dementia patients—and is starting to offer the same instruction at no cost online and in person to family caregivers.
“Families need help keeping their loved one safe and mentally engaged and stimulated, and managing difficult behaviors,” says Jeff Huber, Home Instead’s president.
To that end, Home Instead developed a life journal, designed to collect information about a patient’s history “to create a much more effective caring experience,” he says.
What do individuals in all health care environments desire: to live comfortably without pain. This is of particular concern to aging adults who suffer from conditions with chronic care more than any other population. A recent study in the journal of Pain Medicine examined the nature of patient-directed care and the patient-provider relationship for aging adults seeking treatment for chronic pain. Conducted by Dr. Carrie Teh and her cohorts, the study examined the experiences and desires of fifteen older adults in the Pittsburgh area. Researchers found that while some patients wanted to be told what to do by their physicians, others wanted to actively participate in efforts to manage their pain. These participation efforts included refusing specific undesirable treatments and demanding quality care. Regardless of the degree of control patients wanted in their pain decisions, all patients described the importance of being both “heard” and “understood” by their health care providers.
There are two crucial implications of this study. First, patient-centered care is becoming the norm. Second, aging adults, regardless of the role they want to play in health care decision-making, want to feel connected and heard in the health care process. What the study also indicated was that, some patients may not be entirely ready for this but still want quality care. Nonetheless, the ability to be involved represents an important opportunity for elders and their families.
Elders and their families have the ability to be the first generation to actively participate in the health care process. This will pave the way for other generations to become partners rather than their observers in their health care. The Rosenkranz law firm is dedicated to provide resources wherein families can get help and manage the care process. Building a supportive care environment that does not financially exhaust the families resources may be a result that could be obtained. What are your families goals and preferences. Contact Jack Rosenkranz for more information on this topic. to assist individuals, to determine for themselves, elder goals and preferences. For more information, please contact Informed Elder Institute, Inc. at 813-223-04195
Technological innovations are changing the way that patients, particularly the chronically ill, receive health care. Patients are becoming responsible for coordinating more of their own care. One example of this increase in responsibility is the use of remote patient management technologies – video conferencing between physicians and patients – by the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA). Veterans with chronic illnesses can now consult with their physicians remotely, which makes care less expensive and allows patients to individualize their care with less reliance on medicine and more focus on non-medical assistance. The VHA’s use of remote patient technologies has been so successful that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid implemented remote patient management for a portion of the Medicare fee-for-service population.
As internet, audio and video conferencing and other technological innovations become more frequently used, patients will have to change their behavior and become educated on how to play a greater role in their care. A recent study of the strengths and weaknesses of remote patient management suggests that one of the core tools are becoming available to patients require in this new era of health care delivery non-medical coaches. In their recent Health Affairs article, Molly Cote, Ateret Haselkorn and Steven DeMello recommend coaching, what they describe as “motivational interviewing and other techniques to encourage patient behavioral change and self-care.” The Rosenkranz Law Firm works with 3rd party vendors to help our clients build a supportive care environment that meets their families needs. This may result with families are receiving the individualized health care that they require at an affordable cost. Many elders and their families have found Brook Crumrine our care coach to be of great help. Clients of the firm report be able to meet the expectations of a health care system that is requiring that patients take more responsibility for the quality and coordination of their own health care.