A PENSIONER who drove the wrong way down a busy dual-carriageway has died after crashing into oncoming vehicles.
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Pensioner dies in 'wrong way' crash
A pensioner has died after driving her car the wrong down a major road and crashing into oncoming vehicles.
Older people should be supported to carry on living at home
Even if care providers up their own game, the health and social care sector is underprepared to help people remain independent The UK care sector, buckling under the weight of our rapidly ageing population, is driving many older people into residential care before it is absolutely necessary. This is a great tragedy, with a shocking economic cost matched only in scale by its personal devastation ...
Diagnostic accuracy of three different methods of temperature measurement in acutely ill geriatric patients
Objective: we examined the diagnostic accuracy of different methods of body temperature measurement to diagnose infection in geriatric patients presenting to the emergency department (ED).
Methods: this observational study was done in consecutive patients ≥75 years old presenting to the ED. Body temperature was determined by tympanal thermometry, temporal artery thermometry and rectal temperature measurement. Adjudicated final diagnosis of infection was done by two experts including patient history, clinical and laboratory findings as well as radiographic studies.
Results: a total of 427 patients were included in the data analysis (age: 82.7 ± 5.1 years). Infection was present in 105 patients (24.6%). Respiratory rate, heart rate and body temperature were significantly higher in patients with infection, blood pressure was lower (P < 0.01). Body temperature measured by tympanal and temporal artery thermometry was correlated with rectal thermometry. Body temperature was significantly higher in patients with infection compared with those without infection independent of the method of body temperature measurement (P < 0.001). The diagnostic accuracy for infection quantified by the area under curve (AUC) was comparable among rectal [AUC: 0.72 (95% CI: 0.65–0.80)] and tympanal thermometry [AUC: 0.73 (95% CI: 0.66–0.81)], but significantly lower in temporal artery thermometry [AUC: 0.65 (95% CI: 0.57–0.73; P < 0.001)]. Compared with rectal measurement tympanal thermometry showed a higher bias than temporal artery thermometry (0.54 versus 0.03°C), while its limits of agreement were more narrow (–0.14 to 1.21°C versus –0.94–1.01°C).
Conclusion: diagnostic accuracy for the identification of infection was comparable among tympanal and rectal thermometry and lower for temporal artery thermometry. Different cut-off points should be used to identify infection using tympanal (37.3°C) or rectal (37.9°C) thermometry. In general, temperature measurement is an insensitive method to identify geriatric patients with infection. Registration number clinicaltrials.com: KSMC-tempger-1.
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Kitemarks to ensure wards are safe for the elderly: Hospitals to be assessed to ensure they give older people good ...
Senior doctors are drawing up a new system which will see wards judged on their treatment of older patients. It follows concern that the elderly are neglected by staff.
Pensioner seriously injured in crash
A PENSIONER is critically ill in hospital after a collision with a car.
Out of sight, out of mind? A review of data available on the health of care home residents in longitudinal and nationally representative cross-sectional studies in the UK and Ireland
Background: care home residents are aged, many have multiple co-morbidities and low levels of functioning. Yet, the UK has no routinely available, national data on health in care homes. The aim of this study is to identify longitudinal or nationally representative cross-sectional sources of information on the health and wellbeing of older adults residing in care homes in the UK and Ireland.
Methods: searches were made of health databases (Medline, Embase), websites of the Economic and Social Data Service and UK Office for National Statistics, and selected journals. On-going longitudinal or repeated cross-sectional studies were sought in the UK and Ireland, that included participants aged over 65 and reported one or more health-related variables. Data were extracted on studies that included older adults in care homes. If necessary, study teams were contacted for information.
Results: we identified 42 longitudinal cohort or repeated cross-sectional studies in the UK that involved older adults. Of these, 17 studies provided data from care home residents. The time period of data collection ranged from 2 to 40 years. Proxy interviews were used to capture the majority of data in care homes.
Conclusion: in the UK and Ireland, most longitudinal and nationally representative cross-sectional studies do not include or follow-up older adults in care homes. Systematic data collection on the health of older adults in care homes should be a priority, to inform policy development and enable monitoring of care delivery and health outcomes.
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