| | 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. | |  |
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 | 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.
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|  | 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.
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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.
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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, aka the Geriatrics interview, 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 |
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June 2008 | 
May 2008 | 
April 2008 |
For fully-searchable contents of complete issues go to Digital Editions. |
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| Conventional Secondhand Smoke Assessment Faulted
| Identification of biological markers could lead to more accurate estimates of lung cancer risk
| | July 4, 2008 | | In the assessment of patients exposed to secondhand smoke, measurements of biological markers may be better indicators of exposure and lung cancer risk than conventional assessment methods, researchers report in the July issue of The Lancet Oncology. |
| | Retinal Signs Predict Risk of Heart Disease in Women
| But only modestly adds to risk predicted by Framingham risk score
| | July 3, 2008 | | Retinal vascular caliber predicts the risk of coronary heart disease in women, but does not add much to the predictive ability of the Framingham risk score, according to a report in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology. |
| | Combo Therapy Provides No Extra Benefit in Cardiac Arrest
| Outcomes are the same with combination of vasopressin and epinephrine, or epinephrine alone
| | July 2, 2008 | | In patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who receive advanced life support, the administration of vasopressin and epinephrine does not improve outcomes compared to administration of epinephrine alone, according to the results of a study published in the July 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. |
| | Endomyocardial Fibrosis Common in Mozambique
| Researchers' echocardiography diagnostic criteria identifies early, asymptomatic cases
| | July 2, 2008 | | In a rural area of Mozambique, endomyocardial fibrosis is common among all age groups, but may not be representative of the country as a whole. Echocardiography can identify the condition while it's still asymptomatic, researchers report in the July 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. |
| | Smoke-Free Policies Linked to Many Health Benefits
| Group points to improved respiratory symptoms, possible lower prevalence of adult smoking
| | July 2, 2008 | | Smoke-free policies -- such as legislation to protect individuals from secondhand smoke -- can lead to health improvements including reduction of respiratory symptoms, and may help reduce adult and youth tobacco use, according to a report published in the July issue of The Lancet Oncology. |
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Geriatrics archives are now available on ModernMedicine.com, a new online resource designed to meet the evolving needs of physicians.