This article provides an introduction to the field of art therapy and the potential it can offer to address the emotional needs of the frail elderly. Two case studies are discussed, and examples of artwork are provided. The case studies and artwork were created under the guidance of an art therapist at a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) site in an urban African American comm...

Asthma affects a significant proportion of elderly patients, but unfortunately, it is responsible for a high asthma-related morbidity and mortality in this population. This may be related not only to the development of a more severe asthma phenotype compared to younger patients, with more marked airway obstruction and a more neutrophilic type of airway inflammation, but also to the presence of ...

BACKGROUND The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is rising steadily, and the rate of increase is among the highest for any form of cancer. Although the reliability of age as a prognostic factor is debatable, several studies suggest that age has an important prognostic use. HYPOTHESIS Age alone does not predict a poor prognosis in the older patient with melanoma. SETTING University teaching ho...

OBJECTIVES To assess outcomes and satisfaction among frail elderly day care clients and their informal caregivers and the impact of adult day care on the cost of health services. METHODS One-hundred eight elderly participants were randomly assigned to the experimental group (immediate admission to an adult day care center) and 104 participants to the control group (3 months on a waiting list)...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Early readmissions of frail elderly patients after an episode of hospital care are common and constitute a crucial patient safety outcome. Our purpose was to study the impact of medications on such early rehospitalizations. PATIENTS AND METHODS This is a clinical, prospective, observational study on rehospitalizations within 30 days after an acute hospital episode for...

QUESTION UNDER STUDY Elderly patients represent an increasing proportion of emergency department (ED) admissions. When no specific complaint is identified, the reason for referral is commonly called "home care impossible". The aim of this study was to describe a population of elderly patients who present to the ED of a 1200-bed university hospital without specific complaint, and to assess how t...

INTRODUCTION Many acutely ill elderly people are frail and suffer from polypharmacy. They often present with nonspecific symptoms at hospital admission and are therefore often under-triaged and insufficiently treated resulting in adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of polypharmacy and frailty and to identify if frailty and polypharmacy may predict adverse hea...

INTRODUCTION The frail elderly in Canada face a tough decision when they start to lose autonomy: whether to stay at home or move to another location. This study seeks to scale up and evaluate the implementation of shared decision-making (SDM) in interprofessional (IP) home care teams caring for elderly clients or their caregivers facing a decision about staying at home or moving elsewhere. ME...