Joyce Apperson is a Registered Nurse and Geriatric Care Manager with 15 plus years of experience working with advocating for seniors. She is the founder and President of Caring Connection, Inc.
Quoting Joyce:
In addition to medication, doctors recommend several behavioral interventions to help seniors manage not only their overactive bladder symptoms, but also their risk of falling. These include:
Fluid Intake Schedule–When fluid is consumed on a regular schedule, bathroom breaks can be planned into the day with some certainty.
Double Voiding–Trying to void a second time after the bladder has been emptied can help prevent the immediate need to revisit the facilities.
Schedule Bathroom Breaks–Seniors should go to the bathroom on a schedule rather than waiting until they feel the urge.
Wear Absorbent Pads–Absorbent undergarments can help prevent the embarrassment of having an accident, especially in public places. It can also reduce any fears that may be associated with soiling clothes or furniture.
2015-05-23
The Tangle of Coordinated Health Care - NYTimes.com
Who coordinates the coordinators?
More specifically, who coordinates the proliferating number of health care helpers variously known as case managers, care managers, care coordinators, patient navigators or facilitators, health coaches or even — here’s a new one — “pathfinders”?
For Family Caregivers A Family Caregiver’s Guide to Care Coordination
{q}As a family caregiver, care coordination is something that you probably do often. This guide can help you to understand care coordination, the differences between care coordination by a family member and a professional care coordinator, and how to work together with professional care coordinators.
The guide also gives questions to ask a professional care coordinator, and tips on keeping your own care coordination organized - especially after the professional care coordinator's services end.{eq}
Professional Care Coordinators
Family Caregivers and Care Coordinators
Questions to Ask a Professional Care Coordinator
Tips for Staying Organized
More specifically, who coordinates the proliferating number of health care helpers variously known as case managers, care managers, care coordinators, patient navigators or facilitators, health coaches or even — here’s a new one — “pathfinders”?
Paula Span; The law of unintended consequences seems at work here“It’s not so much that there are too many cooks in the kitchen, it’s that the cooks are not always communicating,” Mr. Baker said. “We need to set up more rigorous protocols or structures, so we don’t have this who’s-on-first problem.” Perhaps, he suggested, a “dominant care manager” should guide the team.
Now, the Affordable Care Act and other attempts to make health care more effective and efficient (and less expensive) have created incentives and penalties that should, in theory, encourage one hand to know what the other is doing.
For Family Caregivers A Family Caregiver’s Guide to Care Coordination
{q}As a family caregiver, care coordination is something that you probably do often. This guide can help you to understand care coordination, the differences between care coordination by a family member and a professional care coordinator, and how to work together with professional care coordinators.
The guide also gives questions to ask a professional care coordinator, and tips on keeping your own care coordination organized - especially after the professional care coordinator's services end.{eq}
Professional Care Coordinators
Family Caregivers and Care Coordinators
Questions to Ask a Professional Care Coordinator
Tips for Staying Organized
2015-05-22
4 Reasons Care Transitions Can Keep Your Home Care Agency Competitive
The care coordination market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.1 percent between 2015 and 2020
An important driver in the care coordination market is the rapid adoption of new digital health solutions by payers and providers is the need to better track and manage patients across acute, ambulatory and home care settings.
To enable team-based care and ensure smooth care transitions and efficient use of healthcare resources, care coordination software should be flexible and extensible, with corresponding accountability, transparency of information, and ability to provide analysis and reporting among key stakeholders.
The solutions will enable care teams to implement and track care plans, engage patients in self-management, as well as provide closed-loop, 24/7 communication among all stakeholders, including patients and their families.
An important driver in the care coordination market is the rapid adoption of new digital health solutions by payers and providers is the need to better track and manage patients across acute, ambulatory and home care settings.
To enable team-based care and ensure smooth care transitions and efficient use of healthcare resources, care coordination software should be flexible and extensible, with corresponding accountability, transparency of information, and ability to provide analysis and reporting among key stakeholders.
The solutions will enable care teams to implement and track care plans, engage patients in self-management, as well as provide closed-loop, 24/7 communication among all stakeholders, including patients and their families.
2015-05-19
Getting the Right Care After a Hospital Discharge
In-Home Care
Most people do not understand the difference between home health and home care workers.
Essentially, home health services are provided by licensed medical professionals who come to the home to do a specific task that has been ordered by a physician and is paid for by Medicare or insurance.
Home care is classified as non-medical support, typically is not paid for by Medicare, and is for the time and duration that you specify. Some rehabilitation services can be carried out in the home through home health agencies. Visiting therapists or health care workers come once or twice a week to monitor health, administer injections, provide wound care, strength training and physical therapy exercises.
Typically, rehabilitation therapy provided by home health can only be offered a few times a week. For some patients to have a successful outcome, seniors must be motivated to exercise when the therapist is not present. In-home therapies also lack the peer support and socialization that can be provided in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities. That support and socialization often gives seniors the extra motivation as they recuperate.
............
Questions to Ask for Your Hospital Discharge Plan
Here are some questions to ask your hospital discharge planner or primary care doctor before your loved one leaves the hospital:
Sarah
Mitchell, MSW, has experience in hospital social work and geriatric
outpatient care. As an administrator in Assisted Living and Memory Care
with one of the top 20 assisted living companies, she acquired an
awareness and knowledge of the industry that she found valuable in her
role as a Senior Living Advisor at A Place for Mom. Since 2004, Mitchell
has used her education as a social worker and experience in senior
living to help over 14,000 families find the right senior care.
Getting the Right Care After a Hospital Discharge:
Most people do not understand the difference between home health and home care workers.
Essentially, home health services are provided by licensed medical professionals who come to the home to do a specific task that has been ordered by a physician and is paid for by Medicare or insurance.
Home care is classified as non-medical support, typically is not paid for by Medicare, and is for the time and duration that you specify. Some rehabilitation services can be carried out in the home through home health agencies. Visiting therapists or health care workers come once or twice a week to monitor health, administer injections, provide wound care, strength training and physical therapy exercises.
Typically, rehabilitation therapy provided by home health can only be offered a few times a week. For some patients to have a successful outcome, seniors must be motivated to exercise when the therapist is not present. In-home therapies also lack the peer support and socialization that can be provided in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities. That support and socialization often gives seniors the extra motivation as they recuperate.
............
Questions to Ask for Your Hospital Discharge Plan
Here are some questions to ask your hospital discharge planner or primary care doctor before your loved one leaves the hospital:
- What therapies will be required?
- What services will health insurance or Medicare pay for?
- Will we need help with dressing or bathing?
- Will we need help with cooking and housework?
- Will my loved one be safe at home upon discharge or will someone need to be with them 24 hours a day?
- What is the average length of recovery time?
- What problems, symptoms and side effects should we watch for?
- What should we do about any potential side effects or problems?
- Who do we call for emergencies and problems?
- What does each medicine do and why is it needed?
- What are the medication dosages, conflicts and side effects?
- Who do we call if we have questions about medical equipment such as oxygen or a walker?
Sarah
Mitchell, MSW, has experience in hospital social work and geriatric
outpatient care. As an administrator in Assisted Living and Memory Care
with one of the top 20 assisted living companies, she acquired an
awareness and knowledge of the industry that she found valuable in her
role as a Senior Living Advisor at A Place for Mom. Since 2004, Mitchell
has used her education as a social worker and experience in senior
living to help over 14,000 families find the right senior care.
Getting the Right Care After a Hospital Discharge:
2015-05-15
2015-05-13
Fujitsu pushes wearable IoT tags that detect falls, heat stress | PCWorld
Tim Hornyak
IDG News Service
Fujitsu has developed stamp-sized wearable sensor tags that can detect whether users have changed their location or posture, fallen down or are experiencing high heat.
The tags transmit data via Bluetooth Low Energy and can be worn as wristbands or location badges on lapels or breast pockets. They could be used by people including hospital patients and infrastructure workers to relay data to supervisors.
The tags can also be attached to objects such as shopping carts or walkers for the elderly. They’re part of a cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) platform from Fujitsu called Ubiquitousware that’s aimed at making IoT applications easier for businesses.
At a Fujitsu technology expo in Tokyo this week the company is showing off the prototype tags. They contain various sensors commonly found in smartphones such as accelerometers, barometers, gyroscopes and microphones. They can also house heart rate sensors and GPS modules.
The sensors are being housed in stand-alone tags to better promote IoT apps, according to Fujitsu.
IDG News Service
Fujitsu has developed stamp-sized wearable sensor tags that can detect whether users have changed their location or posture, fallen down or are experiencing high heat.
The tags transmit data via Bluetooth Low Energy and can be worn as wristbands or location badges on lapels or breast pockets. They could be used by people including hospital patients and infrastructure workers to relay data to supervisors.
The tags can also be attached to objects such as shopping carts or walkers for the elderly. They’re part of a cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) platform from Fujitsu called Ubiquitousware that’s aimed at making IoT applications easier for businesses.
At a Fujitsu technology expo in Tokyo this week the company is showing off the prototype tags. They contain various sensors commonly found in smartphones such as accelerometers, barometers, gyroscopes and microphones. They can also house heart rate sensors and GPS modules.
The sensors are being housed in stand-alone tags to better promote IoT apps, according to Fujitsu.
2015-05-11
If You Had Dementia What Kind of Call System Would You Want? | Senior Housing Forum
Jacquie Brennan, Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Development for Vigil Health Solutions,
a Senior Housing Forum partner. She said, “In the industry, I think we
all agree that traditional emergency call systems – with pull strings or
call cords – don’t work very well for residents who have dementia,
right?
Vigil’s system uses intelligent software and passive sensors that
continually monitor resident rooms for unexpected behavior – for
example, agitation or restlessness, extended time in the bathroom,
getting out of bed when they’re typically asleep, or leaving their room.
When unanticipated conduct is detected that information is reported to
appropriate caregivers via silent pager, wireless phone, or email
enabled smart phones. Caregivers check in with residents to see what is
going on.
There are no audible alarms or flashing lights, instead a calm
homelike environment is maintained. Use of these unobtrusive systems for
monitoring residents helps maintain their privacy while safeguarding
their well being. And the data from the sensors is also directed to a
central computer where all alarm activity, sensor activity, and summons
are recorded for further analysis.
Clipped from:
Senior Housing Forum
a Senior Housing Forum partner. She said, “In the industry, I think we
all agree that traditional emergency call systems – with pull strings or
call cords – don’t work very well for residents who have dementia,
right?
“Dementia care residents may forget what the pull cords--
are for and pull them when there’s no emergency. This sets off loud
alarms that frighten and disturb other residents. And, if a resident
doesn’t know to use the cord in an emergency, they are useless anyway.
So why, in new communities or renovations are senior living developers
continuing to put them in dementia care buildings or units?”
Vigil’s system uses intelligent software and passive sensors that
continually monitor resident rooms for unexpected behavior – for
example, agitation or restlessness, extended time in the bathroom,
getting out of bed when they’re typically asleep, or leaving their room.
When unanticipated conduct is detected that information is reported to
appropriate caregivers via silent pager, wireless phone, or email
enabled smart phones. Caregivers check in with residents to see what is
going on.
There are no audible alarms or flashing lights, instead a calm
homelike environment is maintained. Use of these unobtrusive systems for
monitoring residents helps maintain their privacy while safeguarding
their well being. And the data from the sensors is also directed to a
central computer where all alarm activity, sensor activity, and summons
are recorded for further analysis.
Clipped from:
Senior Housing Forum
A Place for Conversation & Collaboration
2015-05-01
Understanding Hallucinations, Delusions and Paranoia - AgingCare.com
Lori Johnston
Lori’s writing expertise includes personal finance, healthcare and small business. She was an Associated Press writer and an editor of Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida. In addition to AgingCare.com, her work has appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, People, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles and Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Caregivers want to help loved ones know that these troubling behaviors are not real, but that natural instinct can be wrong.
Lori’s writing expertise includes personal finance, healthcare and small business. She was an Associated Press writer and an editor of Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida. In addition to AgingCare.com, her work has appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, People, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles and Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Caregivers want to help loved ones know that these troubling behaviors are not real, but that natural instinct can be wrong.
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