looming crisis in availability in the UK

on the flip side this should drive patient centred care in the home....

Long-term care and dementia services: an impending crisis

SSRIs and #

Article from last weeks Archives of Internal Medicine. I suppose the only consolation is that it was a small group and that all depressed patients with fractures were treated with SSRIs which would leave the door open for depression as a possible variable.


Effect of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors on the Risk of Fracture

Bill 140

CUPE call for increase in hours ( 2.04 in 2000)through minimum standard ( Alberta 3.5 hours a day)

CUPE says experiments with long-term care must stop

Multivitamins/minerals & infection

No surprise here.

Effect of Multivitamin and Mineral Supplementation on Episodes of Infection in Nursing Home Residents: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study

working together

An article from yesterday's NYT by Ira Rosofsky that proposes cooperative housing and pooled resources as a viable alternative to the inevitable nursing home option. As most admissions to LTC are basically unplanned this would require some advance thought and ingenuity.

Escape From the Nursing Home

Genetics & AD

At last

Study Links Gene to Alzheimer's Risk

Bill140

Hearings started yesterday
Nursing home bill means less care: critics

Delirium

An upcoming review in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences ( January 2007) examines the relationship between delirium and dementia. This news article interviews the doyen of dementia Dr Sharon Inouye and summarizes some of the key questions asked by researchers of delirium.

Relationship Between Delirium and Dementia

hemorrhagic stroke

Article in Neurology that finds a quintupling of the rate of hemorrhagic stroke over a period of 10 years. The rate for patients over 80 went from 2.5/100,000 to 45.9/100,000.During the same period in the US the use of warfarin quadrupled.

Drug linked to rise in brain hemorrhages

The increasing incidence of anticoagulant-associated intracerebral hemorrhage

education and AD

So much for an education. Looks like it is less independantly associated than previously thought......

Higher Education Linked to Faster Mental Decline

Day care for seniors

If anyone has more information on this.....let me know

Calgary Daycare For Seniors Operational

SARS

4 years on and Justice Campbell releases his third and final report on the SARS outbreak in Ontario

McGuinty Government Committed to Applying Lessons Learned From SARS


MCGUINTY GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED FROM SARS

falls becoming more hazardous

CDC reports that falls are becoming more lethal for the older patient in this Consumer Reports article

The rate of fatal falls grew from 23.7 for every 100,000 persons 65 and older in 1993 to 36.8 in 2003, according to the report. The fatal fall rate for men was about 50 percent higher than for women.

New report on falls highlights risks to elderly

65

At 65 you can expect to live 17-20 years according to Stats Canada. However 43% of those aged 65 and older can expect to live 3-4 years in a long term care centre. Quid pro quo.

Seniors enjoy longer life: Stats Canada

LTC in PEI

At last a change in the asset testing for accomodation charges that will spare islanders the prospect of depleting their assets to pay for LTC

Seniors in long-term care covered by new rules: minister