Evaluating a Potential Commercial Tool for Healthcare Application for People with Dementia

The widespread use of smartphones and sensors has made physiology, environment, and public health notifications amenable to continuous monitoring. Personalized digital health and patient empowerment can become a reality only if the complex multisensory and multimodal data is processed within the patient context, converting relevant medical knowledge into actionable information for better and timely decisions. We apply these principles in the healthcare domain of dementia. Specifically, in this study we validate one of our sensor platforms to ascertain whether it will be suitable for detecting physiological changes that may help us detect changes in people with dementia. This study shows our preliminary data collection results from six healthy participants using the commercially available Hexoskin vest. The results show strong promise to derive actionable information using a combination of physiological observations from passive sensors present in the vest. The derived actionable information can help doctors determine physiological changes associated with dementia, and alert patients and caregivers to seek timely clinical assistance to improve their quality of life

Lincomycin Injections for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: A Comparison of Findings in a Rural Clinic with Analysis of a National Data Base

A review of the records of patients attending a rural family practice clinic indicated that 13% had received cold shots (lincomycin with or without chlorpheniramine). The providers who assumed management of the clinic when the previous physician retired judged these injections inappropriate, but patients believed that they were effective and expected to continue to receive them. This study included 51 consecutive patients seen in the clinic for treatment of a cold and compared those who expected an injection with those who did not. Thirty-four patients (67%) expected an injection but instead received education about upper respiratory tract infections and symptomatic treatment. Half of these patients (17) were not satisfied with this alternative, and 10 reportedly went to another provider for an injection. Compared with patients who did not expect an injection, patients who did were older (P less than .001), had longer duration of symptoms (P less than .02), and were more likely to have tried nonprescription remedies (P less than .001). Analysis of the 1985 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey indicates that the administration of lincomycin is not uncommon (an estimated 800,000 injections were given in 1985) and that lincomycin is more likely to be administered by a rural solo physician practicing in the north central or southern regions of the United States

Lincomycin Injections for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: A Comparison of Findings in a Rural Clinic with Analysis of a National Data Base

A review of the records of patients attending a rural family practice clinic indicated that 13% had received cold shots (lincomycin with or without chlorpheniramine). The providers who assumed management of the clinic when the previous physician retired judged these injections inappropriate, but patients believed that they were effective and expected to continue to receive them. This study included 51 consecutive patients seen in the clinic for treatment of a cold and compared those who expected an injection with those who did not. Thirty-four patients (67%) expected an injection but instead received education about upper respiratory tract infections and symptomatic treatment. Half of these patients (17) were not satisfied with this alternative, and 10 reportedly went to another provider for an injection. Compared with patients who did not expect an injection, patients who did were older (P less than .001), had longer duration of symptoms (P less than .02), and were more likely to have tried nonprescription remedies (P less than .001). Analysis of the 1985 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey indicates that the administration of lincomycin is not uncommon (an estimated 800,000 injections were given in 1985) and that lincomycin is more likely to be administered by a rural solo physician practicing in the north central or southern regions of the United States

Care of the Older Adult in the Office Setting

The aging of America is upon us. For decades, health care providers gave little attention to the tables and graphs showing the shifting age distribution of the US population while alarmists made dire predictions. But now, with the realization that the first of the baby boom generation will turn 65 years old in just 6 years, the contents of the tables and the trajectories displayed on the graphs give all of us a sense of urgency. The number of Americans aged 65 years and older has grown from 3.1 million in 1900 to almost 36 million today, and is projected to be 71.5 million in 2030. Even more impressive is the number of Americans aged 85 years and over: 4 million today and projected to reach 20 million by 2050

End-of-Life Care in the Nursing Home - Is a Good Death Compatible with Regulatory Compliance?

As a nation and a community, we must all work to maintain the dignity of the 1.6 million citizens residing in nursing homes. Moreover, since one in every five deaths in the United States occurs in a nursing facility, and 30 to 50 percent of people admitted to nursing home die within their first year of resident (Keay et al. 1994; Hing et al. 1989), our commitment includes ensuring a good death for nursing facility residents

Care of the Older Adult in the Office Setting

The aging of America is upon us. For decades, health care providers gave little attention to the tables and graphs showing the shifting age distribution of the US population while alarmists made dire predictions. But now, with the realization that the first of the baby boom generation will turn 65 years old in just 6 years, the contents of the tables and the trajectories displayed on the graphs give all of us a sense of urgency. The number of Americans aged 65 years and older has grown from 3.1 million in 1900 to almost 36 million today, and is projected to be 71.5 million in 2030. Even more impressive is the number of Americans aged 85 years and over: 4 million today and projected to reach 20 million by 2050