Age and ageing
-
Multicenter Study Historical Article
National audit of continence care for older people: management of urinary incontinence.
the Department of Health report 'Good practice in continence services' highlights the need for proper assessment and management of urinary incontinence. The National Service Framework for Older People required service providers to establish integrated continence services by April 2004. A national audit was conducted to assess the quality of continence care for older people and whether these requirements have been met. ⋯ the results of this audit indicate that the requirement for integrated continence services has not yet been met. Assessment and care by professionals directly looking after the older person were often lacking. There is an urgent need to re-establish the fundamentals of continence care into the practice of medical and nursing staff and action needs to be taken with regard to the establishment of truly integrated, quality services in this neglected area of practice.
-
demented patients have been reported to be healthier than other old people of the same age. ⋯ in this cohort of very old inpatients, demented patients, non-demented patients and patients with MCI had similar levels of comorbidity, but demented patients had a poorer functional and nutritional status.
-
Respiratory problems in older adults are frequently labelled as being due to chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD). However where the presentation may be suggestive of another pathology due to the clinical history or type of pathogen isolated from the sputum, then consideration should be given to appropriate imaging. ⋯ A CT of thorax for suspected bronchiectasis revealed tracheobroncomegaly (Mounier-Kuhn syndrome). This is the oldest case of Mounier-Kuhn syndrome at presentation and highlights the importance of appropriate history taking and investigation of older people.