Senior Activities & Healthy Aging

Clippings:

• Regional differences found in treating end-stage kidney disease in elderly Americans University Week (UW) Aug. 5, 2010 | By Leila Gray Treatment for end-stage kidney disease varies for older Americans, depending on the region where they live, according to a study published in the July 14 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

• A Library of Clippings on Senior Themes & Issues [linked in April 2010]

• Cancer Fight: Unclear Tests for New Drug New York Times 19/4/10 (by Gina Kolata) "So-called targeted therapies for cancer are only as good as tests to find their protein targets. And those tests can be surprisingly unreliable."

• "Can Googling delay the onset of dementia? Internet searching stimulates brain, study says"
  San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, November 30, 2008 by Heidi Benson, "A new UCLA study, part of the growing research into the effects of technology on the brain, shows that searching the Internet may keep older brains agile - it's like taking your brain for a walk.
  It's too early to conclude that technology will help vanquish Alzheimer's disease, but "our study shows that when your brain is on Google, your neural circuitry changes extensively," said psychiatrist Gary Small, director of UCLA's Memory & Aging Research Center."
  Other References:
  • The Official Website of Gary Small and iBrain [iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind]
  • UCLA Center on Aging: The Memory Bible

• (NIH) Web site helps seniors navigate information maze Bremerton Sun, November 16, 2003.

• Dividing geezers into groups separates boys from the men Bremerton Sun, Nov.16, 2003; by Jim Shea, The Hartford Courant Something needs to be done about the term senior, as in citizen. It's too broad...

• Seniors selecting reverse mortgages Seattle Times, September 29, 2002 By Sandra Fleishman, The Washington Post Older homeowners dreaming of ways to stay in a home and draw on its value for living expenses, health care or home improvements are also getting in on the action, according to a national group of lenders that make what are known as reverse mortgages.

• Condo bound? Here's how to do it right , August 04, 2002 Home / Real Estate By Elizabeth Rhodes Seattle Times staff reporter Before you purchase your first condominium, let's play a game.

• P-I Focus: Caring for our nation's elderly: Like other nations, U.S. will meet its commitment Seattle PI, Sunday, July 28, 2002; By WAYNE MCCORMICK LONG-TERM CARE SERVICE CHIEF The challenge of caring for older Americans can and will be met. We are not the only nation confronting this challenge -- every nation in the world is seeking its own solutions for accommodating the shift in demographics toward a larger older population.

• Shifting strategies: Retirement expectations change with bear market; Seattle Times, Sunday, July 21, 2002; By Amy Trask "I felt just like the market - boom and then bust," Davis said. That sentiment was echoed by other local investors, who say the wild stock-market ride of the past five years has made them wiser, if not richer.

• How-to guides for life: Getting started with elder care: Learn more about how to get started with elder care Seattle Times, Sunday, July 14, 2002; By Catherine Tarpley Here's what the experts advise: Recognize that your parents will likely need care some day. Get involved in elder-care planning while they're still able to make their own decisions

• Sunday, March 03, 2002 Demographic surprise: Many more reach 60, and rise in longevity is global Seattle Times, March 3, 2002; By William Orme Los Angeles Times UNITED NATIONS: Feeling old? You're not alone. The whole world is getting older and at a pace that has taken demographers by surprise and presented governments with economic and social challenges, the United Nations reports in a global aging study.

• Discount Cards? See:
  Bush describes his 'framework' for Medicare , Seattle Times, July 13, 2001
• July Pharmacy-discount plan draws criticism , Seattle Times, July 12, 2001.

Literature:

• Annotated Bibliography of Shared Medical Decision Making

• Time Magazine February 22, 2010. "Time Health" (Special Issue) How to live 100 years -- Lab Report -- The Map -- The Cost -- The Diet -- Dr.Oz

• Hospital Stays May Spur Brain Decline in Seniors Those admitted more likely to develop dementia than non-hospitalized, study finds, Business Week 23 Feb 2010

• Medical Decision Making (Journal - SAGE)
  • Online First [by which forthcoming articles are published online before they are scheduled to appear in print]

  ---

• Allison Arthur, Health care: Hospital CEO sees workforce shortage as looming issue PT Leader, 8/5/2009 6:00:00 AM

• Cain, Mary M., Robert Mittman, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, and Jennifer C.Wayne. Health e-People: The Online Consumer Experience. Oakland, CA: Institute for the Future, California Health Care Foundation, 2000.

• Conte, Christopher Networking for Better Care: Health Care in the Information Age. Jean Smith and Rachel Anderson, eds.Benton Foundation, 1999.

• Joyce Dijs-Elsinga, PhD*, Wilma Otten, Martine M. Versluijs, Harm J. Smeets, Job Kievit, MD, PhD, Robbert Vree, Wendeline J. van der Made, and Perla J. Marang-van de Mheen, PhD , Choosing a Hospital for Surgery: The Importance of Information on Quality of Care Medical Decision Making: First published on January 28, 2010 [Abstract] Objective: To assess whether patients use information on quality of care when choosing a hospital for surgery compared with more general hospital information.

• Eysenbach, Gunther. "Consumer health informatics" BMJ 2000;320:1713-1716 ( 24 June ) Unit for Cybermedicine, Department of [Clinical Social Medicine, University of Heidelberg] "...there is an increasing interest in reaching consumers and patients directly through computers and telecommunications systems. Consumer health informatics is the branch of medical informatics that analyses consumers' needs for information; studies and implements methods of making information accessible to consumers; and models and integrates consumers' preferences into medical information systems..."

• Golant, Stephen M., The Residential Location and Spatial Behavior of the Elderly: A Canadian Example. Distributed for the Committee on Geographical Studies. xv, 226 p. 1972 Series: (GRP) University of Chicago Geography Research Papers.

• Goldsmith, Jeff. The Internet and Managed Care: A New Wave of Information. Health Affairs 19(6):42–56, 2000.

• Kassirer, Jerome P. Patients, Physicians, And The Internet. Health Affairs 19(6):115–23, 2000.

• Kleinke, J.D. Vaporware.com: The Failed Promise of the Health Care Internet. Health Affairs 19(6):57– 71, 2000.

• Lorence, D. and H. Park Group disparities and health information: a study of online access for the underserved, Health Informatics Journal, March 1, 2008; 14(1): 29 - 38. [Abstract] [PDF] ... Access to information ... is now an essential part of consumer-centric healthcare management. To date little research has been done to differentiate levels of health information access on the Web by different subgroups, linking online socioeconomic characteristics and health seeking behaviors..."

• McDonald, Clement J. Need For Standards In Health Information. Health Affairs 17(6):44–6, 1998.

• Mayer, M. A., Karkaletsis, V., Archer, P., Ruiz, P., Stamatakis, K., Leis, A. (2006). Quality labelling of medical web content. Health Informatics Journal 12: 81-87 [Abstract] "As the number of medical websites in various languages increases, it is increasingly necessary to establish specific criteria and control measures that give consumers some guarantee that the health websites they are visiting meet a minimum level of quality standards. Further, reassurance is needed that the professionals offering the information are suitably qualified..." [Source]

• Moran, Donald W. Health Information Policy: On Preparing For The Next War. Health Affairs 17(6):9–22, 1998.

• A.M.O'Connor and M.J.Jacobsen, Decisional Conflicts: Supporting People Experiencing Uncertainty about Options Affecting their Health [PDF monograph on the Internet]. Ottawa: Ottawa Health Decision Centre; 2007.]

• Rochman, Bonnie When Patients Share Medical Data Online Time Magazine, Monday, Feb. 08, 2010 "Thousands of patients ... are learning as much online — and from one another — as they are from their doctors. These laypeople are banding together and starting websites to help figure out which practitioners to see and which hospitals to avoid, which clinical trials show promise and which experimental treatments are bunk...."

• Sedlar, Jeri and Rick Miners. Don't Retire, Rewire! 5 Steps to Fulfilling Work that Fuels your Passion, Suits your Personality or Fills your Pocket. Alpha/Pearson, 2003.

• Laura A. Stokowski RN, MS Healthcare Anywhere: The Pledge of Telehealth MedscapeToday, Oct 30, 2008 "...Forward-thinking healthcare providers are turning to digital solutions not only to cope with the anticipated surge in patients with chronic diseases, but also to shift the focus of healthcare to prevention, saving money by keeping patients at home and out of the hospital.... Geography is no longer a barrier to care, and healthcare is increasingly accessible to the medically underserved in rural or remote areas of the country..."

• Sullivan, Patrick J., "Help for hearts: Ludlow, EJFR medics have rare 'clot buster' power for heart attack patients," in: The Port Townsend Leader6/24/2009

• Howard Waitzkin & John D. Stoeckle Information control and the micropolitics of health care: Summary of an ongoing research project "...Information transmittal is closely related to the clinical problems of history taking, medical records, compliance, satisfaction, physiologic response to therapy and patient delay in reporting symptoms.
  The sociological considerations guiding the research are summarized under four headings: (1) the problems of uncertainty and power; (2) the definition of information; (3) sociolinguistics and the diffidence of the sick poor; and (4) ethnomethodology and common-sense constructs. The doctor-patient relationship is viewed as a micropolitical situation, in which information control is used, at least in part, to maintain patterns of dominance and subordination.