Frailty Syndrome As Elderly Individuals Essay

It is expected that with the baby boomers significantly using the health care dollars, the provinces and territories will end up spending 60% of their GDP on health care services which accounts to $530 billion dollars of debt ( Robson, 2001). This discrepancy will put pressure on the federal government and encourage provincial policy makers to rely more on the federal government for funding instead of finding their own way to manage their health care systems better. Population aging affects the demand for and costs of health care services, given that seniors account for about 45% of provincial/ government health care dollars (Ng,Sanmartin,Tu, Manuel, 2014, pg 15). Seniors are not only the largest user group of health care, but their hospital visits and admissions are higher than any other age group. This is merely because seniors tend to have more chronic conditions which derive them to use the health care services. Due to the health care problems that many seniors face, it is important to address the future directions in which the sustainability of the universal health care resides.

More people are living much longer lives than in years past. People are very surprised to be living much longer lives than they thought they would. Health care has played a large part in patient longevity. There are many normal changes that come along with aging, however, because people are living longer these normal changes can become chronic problems. Common aging problems that can make the older adult a vulnerable population are reviewed in Gerontological Nursing (Tabloski, 2014) and can include nutritional needs, medication management, sleep changes, oral or mouth care, renal problems and musculoskeletal concerns. According to A Profile of Older Americans: 2013 (http://www.hhs.gov), there are a large amount

Experience working in the field of health care lends insight to the growing needs of the older adult population, and the barriers which impede our capacity to meet them. As the Baby Boomer age is approaching older adulthood, the rise for financial,

I have identified the aging population (greater than 55 years of age) in Chatham/Kent, Ontario (in a community I am familiar and work within); a population on the rise and with minimal government and Ministry of Health support that enables seniors to maintain quality of life,

This article addresses an important issue on how to develop frailty assessment tools in older adults with musculoskeletal disorders. Why is this topic more essential? Frailty has found in various fields of chronic diseases not only in musculoskeletal disorders. I am interested in frailty; however, it is tricky to determine who present frail in older adults having physical function limitation. Therefore, the different among physical function limitation, immobility, and frailty are still hard to justification. For example, older adults having secondary or third osteoarthritis always presents with severe pain at the knee joint. This pain also interferes his/her physical function. The more joints movement, the greater pain emerge. Reducing severe

It is a fact that we have a longer life expectancy than ever before. This has been achieved through years of thorough research, technological development, and most importantly resilient individuals. Doctors are constantly faced with different enigmas with no right or wrong answer. What first attracted me toward medicine was the desire to help and support, in particular, disadvantaged people. Coming from a country with an underdeveloped health care system has made me realised the impact it has on people’s life.

Most aging adults do not receive the necessary preventive services to help promote health and wellness during this stage of life. These preventive services include vaccinations and screenings. These important services help detect many diseases, delay their onset, or identify them early in their most treatable stages to ensure healthier, longer, and more productive lives for older adults (Prevention, 2011). Better people take care of themselves the longer they will live. People who balance: the right diet, making better choices and not acting sedentary has a better chance in living longer lives.

As a person grows into their seventies and eighties, they are not only rewarded with extra candles on their cake, but a plethora of medical issues: arthritis, cancer, respiratory disease, osteoporosis. Each and every day there are more people that fall into this age bracket due to the vast amount of babies that were born from the late 1940’s to the early 1960’s (otherwise known as the baby boom).

According to Statistics Canada Report 2013, “life expectancy in Canada is one of the highest in the world” and it is expected to grow, making the aging population a key driver to our health-systems reform. By 2036, seniors in Canada will comprise of twenty five per cent of the population (CIHI, 2011). Seniors, those aged 65 years and older are the fastest growing population in Canada. Currently there are approximately 4.8 million Canadians aged 65 or greater. It is projected that this number will increase to 9 to 10 million by 2036 (Priest, 2011). As the population get aged the demand for health care and related services are expected to increase. Currently, the hospitals in Ontario are frequent faced with overcrowding emergency

Ageing is becoming a priority issue in Canada, and healthcare systems are investing large amount of money to enhance the quality of life for baby boomers. The present life expectancy in Canada has reached 80.9 years (Public Health Agency, 2011). According to this estimation, older adults will make up to 18% of the total population by 2021; an equivalent to 6.7 million people. (Rivard & Buchanan, 2006; Smith, 2012). This data highlights the probability of problems that can be caused due to the increased ratio of dependent population which are an older adults. Physiological changes associated with an aging make older adults more reliant on health care services for the treatments and better quality of life while ageing. It is estimated that 74-90% of older adults struggle with at least one chronic condition in Canada (Smith, 2012). The accompanying cost with these diseases are $ 190 billion out of which $ 90 billion is goes directly toward treatment measures (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2011). As a result, the healthcare system is facing many complex challenges relating to improving quality of life for baby boomers and lowering health care costs.

The life expectancy in the 1900’s was fifty years old. A hundred years later, the life expectancy has expanded to the late eighties and early nineties. In the 1900’s people weren 't as blessed and fortuitous to have the things we use today. Back then people had to deal with the fact that they couldn 't be cured of certain diseases, or illnesses that came across them. Today is different. In the 20th Century, the world has become a healthier place, so much that the lifespan has elevated by almost thirty years. With the help of doctors, technologists and other professionals who work in the medical field, substantial advancements in the health sciences are helping physicians to better appraise and target specific conditions that will trend and have the potential to result in broaden lifespans.

Our population is aging and living longer. More than 4.7 million Canadians are 65 or older and developing chronic conditions and diseases and, along with aging, poor lifestyle choices are leading to increases in chronic diseases such as arthritis and diabetes (National Expert Commission, 2012). There will be increased focus on chronic disease management and health promotion with the goal of improving the individual’s quality of life and allowing them to stay in their own homes longer. This change will reduce healthcare costs by decreasing the need for institutional care (CNA update 2012) but

The concept of “frailty” has been widely accepted as a condition of age-related decline over decades. The aging-related decline in older adults is the most important factor in increasing vulnerability to stress, leading to decreasing physiological reserves and diminishing homeostasis across multiple organ systems. Some see frailty as synonymous with comorbidity or disability. Several frailty instruments have been developed to evaluate frailty. However, evaluating frailty has some challenges to overcome. The significant challenge is that

Reported Edmonton Frail Scale (REFS). The REFS derived from the Edmonton Frail Scale which defined frailty using the accumulation deficit model. The REFS evaluated ten domains for screening cognition function, general health status, functional independence, social support, medication uses, nutrition, mood, incontinence, self-reported performance. A total REFS score is 18, the scores of 12–18 is severe frailty, score 10–11 is moderate frailty, scores 8–9 is mild frailty, scores 6–7 is apparently frail and scores 0–5 is non-frail (Hilmer et al.,

The life expectancy has improved over the past century, due to advances in preventative care and control of infectious diseases, better and more reliable nutrition, housing, hygiene, and medical care. For instance, advances in medical technology in relation to such treatment of heart disease and stroke, as well as living healthier lifestyles, improvements in access to health care, and better overall health before age 65, resulted in continued improvements in life expectancy throughout the second half of the 20th century. Although life expectancy increased from 49 to 80 years due to life and health enhancements, it has caused gender, religion, income and racial group disparities that