Age and ageing
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over 60% of older people have at least one admission to hospital in their last year of life, with the majority of people having multiple admissions. In Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia, we have a diverse ethnic and cultural population. We were interested in bed utilisation, documentation, and follow through of "care plans" as well as "not for resuscitation" orders in the last year of life of the older people in our area. ⋯ this study showed that in our diverse population there were multiple admissions and utilisation of hospital beds for older people in their last year of life. Care plans and not for resuscitation orders were rarely documented prior to last admission. However, when advanced care plans were done, they were usually well documented and followed through appropriately.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Community-based group exercise improves balance and reduces falls in at-risk older people: a randomised controlled trial.
recent studies have found that moderate intensity exercise is an effective intervention strategy for preventing falls in older people. However, research is required to determine whether supervised group exercise programmes, conducted in community settings with at-risk older people referred by their health care practitioner are also effective in improving physical functioning and preventing falls in this group. ⋯ these findings indicate that participation in a weekly group exercise programme with ancillary home exercises can improve balance and reduce the rate of falling in at-risk community dwelling older people.
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the major purpose of health and social policy in old age is to increase quality of life of elderly people. In many demographically developing countries, life expectancy is increasing very rapidly, but little information is available on survival free of disability. ⋯ long-term disability is common in old age, affecting a quarter of people over 60 years. However, self-care problems are much less common and suggest that the social and health care consequences of demographic transitions are over-estimated by use of simple questions about limiting long-standing disability. Self-care life expectancy provides a useful monitoring tool for censuses and national disability surveys.