The quality of life (QoL) in nursing home (NH) patients with dementia is threatened by neuropsychiatric symptoms. This may trigger the use of psychotropic drugs, yet it is unknown if this practice improves the QoL. We investigated the association...
Four decades ago, my parents were not permitted to hold their dying infant because they were “visitors” to the intensive care unit. I learned from them that our health care policies sometimes carry huge human costs. As a geriatrician and medical...
As of April 29, 2020, more than 3 million COVID-19 cases and 217,183 associated deaths have been counted worldwide.1 Entire national populations are still under restrictive measures for social distancing and self-isolation. Encouragingly, recent...
We read with interest the article by Cesari and Proietti,1 entitled “COVID-19 in Italy: ageism and decision making in a pandemic,” which rejects a priori discrimination of aged people in access to care. The issue is particularly relevant in a time...
The unprecedented medical realities of COVID-19 are being continuously documented. However, the collateral damage is more difficult to measure, especially when considering the psychological toll on patients and families separated from loved ones due...
Although people of all ages are at risk of contracting COVID-19, figures clearly showed that people older than 60 are more susceptible to the disease and presented the highest mortality.1 Aggressive containment measures, such as national lockdown,...
MEMBERS ONLY CONTENT Login or Join Are patients being “rehabbed to death”? This was the topic of an insightful conversation in a recent AMDA On-The-Go podcast with host Wayne Saltsman, MD, PhD, CMD, and guest Lynn Flint, MD, assistant clinical...
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new guidance for state and local officials to ensure the safe reopening of nursing homes across the country. The recommendations would allow states to make sure nursing...
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued updated guidance for infection prevention in long-term care facilities. The tiered recommendations address nursing homes in different phases of COVID-19 response. They added a...
