Healthcare Archive

Geriatricians offer health guidance and treatment to adults 65 and older. The specialty centers on health concerns increasingly common with age, including falls, hearing loss, incontinence, memory problems, and the need to juggle multiple conditions and medications. Among other goals, geriatricians aim to optimize drug dosages and prevent medication overlap or dangerous side effects. They also coordinate each patient's care with other specialists who help manage chronic conditions. Geriatrician visits are typically longer than those with general practitioners.

Medically unexplained symptoms, which are not easily deciphered account for many visits to primary care doctors and specialists. Individuals seeking answers should work with closely with their primary care doctors.  Strategies such as cognitive behavioral therapy can help people manage stressors that affect physical health.

Doctors around the world use standardized medical terms for a common frame of reference. Laypeople don't always know what that medical jargon means, which can lead to poor health outcomes. When a patient doesn't understand what a doctor is saying, it's important for the patient to ask for clarification. It may help to prepare a list of questions in advance and bring it to the medical appointment; bring a friend along who can take notes and ask questions; and repeat the doctor's advice before the end of the appointment, to make sure it's understood.

The adoption of technology has grown rapidly among older adults, and with it have come potential benefits to mental health, daily functioning, and quality of life. Those who want to help an older person in their life might suggest one of the many options available.

The ongoing opioid epidemic in the US has been perceived as an issue that mostly affects white people in rural areas, but a recently published report from the CDC shows that the epidemic is now disproportionately affecting Black people.

Clostridioides difficile, a bacterium that causes severe diarrhea and colon inflammation, is common in hospitalized people. New research suggests that even patients who are not diagnosed with the infection in the hospital can bring it home and expose family members.

A research letter published online April 25, 2022, by JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that existing advance care directives often don't reflect people's actual wishes (based on values and beliefs) and care goals.

The bacteria C. diff is responsible for half a million infections each year in the US. Many infections happen when people are hospitalized, but a recent report indicated that people can be infected without ever being hospitalized.

In the spring of 2021, the 21st Century Cures Act began requiring health care providers to make almost all patient information available in electronic medical records, without charge or delay. This information includes all notes health care providers jot down about patient visits, medical tests, procedures, and hospitalizations. Reading these notes may make some patients feel anxious, or even offended if a doctor uses language that comes across as judgmental. But studies suggest that note reading helps many people manage their health and catch mistakes in their medical records.

A 2022 study found that women with overactive bladder showed significant improvement in urinary symptoms, such as urgency and leakage, after they engaged in a type of telehealth care.