Healthcare_and_the_Elderly

Quality of Care and the Elderly Quality of care and the elderly When thinking of the phrase quality of care, most individuals want to envision doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, health insurance plans providing high quality care. It would be nice if all the above entities delivered quality of care, however currently in our economy and in this day and age, this is not always the case. Additionally is seems as if the elderly are most effected by poor quality of care. It is most apparent when the elderly patient has no one to care for them or their care is entrusted to nursing home facilities that do not take care of the patients the way they should be. That is with respect, treating the patient the way they themselves would want to be treated all the time. While the U.S. spends more on health care per capita than any other nation, it ranks much lower than other countries on several health measures; and there is a large and growing body of research that has documented that patients often do not receive proven therapies or preventive measures, and that the rate of preventable medical errors remains unacceptably high (KaiserEDU, 2009). Quality of care with the elderly should be an environment that consists of being safe, effective, efficient, and patient centered. Numerous people depend on the health care system, especially the elderly who put their whole trust in medical professionals. Some of the stories that are heard in the news about how elderly people are treated are disturbing. Health care organizations should provide more training to health care professionals about quality of care. Providing accessible, affordable, and high-quality long-term care services to an aging population presents great challenges (TCF, 2009). Although the health care system is in shambles, the quality of care delivered to the elderly should not be affected. However, the problems are apparent and must be resolved; beginning with hiring more staff so the current ones are not overworked and stressed which is one of the main causes there has been a decrease in effective quality of care. Baby steps must be taken in turning around the way health care is delivered amongst the elderly. References KaiserEDU (2009). Quality of Care. Retrieved March 16, 2009 from http://www.kaiseredu.org/asp TCF (2009). The Commonwealth Fund. Care of the Elderly. Retrieved March 16, 2009 from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Topics/Care-of-the-Elderly.aspx