As Our Parents Age

Timely Topics for Adult Children

iPad for Dad, #2 – Getting Started

I took the iPad to my parents’ house on Monday. I live about 100 miles away, so Dad and I worked together exploring the iPad while keeping in mind that we will be apart  for a couple of weeks. Of course I will provide technical help by phone.

He is intrigued and interested and tried most of the features. It was great fun to work with him, and enjoyable to learn about this new technology together.

What He Liked Best

  • Map. Yellow legal pad, iBooks
  • NY Times, Bible and concordance, WGBH classical music
  • YouTube videos
  • Surfing the web (of course)

What I Noticed (though I’ve observed these with older adults other than my dad) Read more »

May 3, 2010 Posted by | aging parents, Coordinating All of Our Lives, Intergenerational Interaction, iPad for Dad, Seniors and Lifelong Learning, Seniors and Technology | , , , , | 7 Comments

Late-Stage Dementia, Hospitals, and Feeding Tubes

A professor at the Brown University Medical School was the lead author on a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Hospital Characteristics Associated With Feeding Tube Placement in Nursing Home Residents With Advanced Dementia (abstract). Joan M. Teno, MD, used Medicare data from 2000 to 2007 to evaluate how often feeding tubes were inserted into late-stage dementia patients, age 66 or older, who were hospitalized by the nursing home or skilled nursing communities where they lived. The records used in the research came from data that included 163,000 patients who were hospitalized 281,000 times at 2,800 hospitals. The data for the study was taken from Medicare claims files.

The research concluded, “Among nursing  home residents with advanced cognitive impairment admitted to acute care hospitals, for-profit ownership, larger hospital size, and greater ICU use was associated with increased rates of feeding tube insertion…” The results, by hospital, are posted at this web site.   Read more »

May 3, 2010 Posted by | aging changes, aging parents, Caregiving, Dementia, end_of_life, Medical Care, medical research, Senior Health | , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments