Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
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Comparative Study
Effects of a modified Hospital Elder Life Program on frailty in individuals undergoing major elective abdominal surgery.
To test the effects of a modified Hospital Elder Life Program (mHELP) on frailty. ⋯ The mHELP intervention is effective in reducing frailty by hospital discharge, but the benefit is diminished by 3 months after discharge. Thus, the mHELP provides a useful approach to manage in-hospital frailty for older adults undergoing major abdominal surgery.
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Comparative Study
Care and Respect for Elders in Emergencies program: a preliminary report of a volunteer approach to enhance care in the emergency department.
Older adults who present to an emergency department (ED) generally have more-complex medical conditions with complicated care needs and are at high risk for preventable adverse outcomes during their ED visit. The Care and Respect for Elders with Emergencies (CARE) volunteer initiative is a geriatric-focused volunteer program developed to help prevent avoidable complications such as falls, delirium and use of restraints, and functional decline in vulnerable elders in the ED. ⋯ This article describes the development and characteristics of the CARE program, the services provided, the experiences of the elderly patients and their volunteers, and the growth of the program over time. CARE volunteers provide elders with the additional attention needed in an often chaotic, unfamiliar environment by enhancing their care, improving satisfaction, and preventing potential decline.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Methodological challenges in determining longitudinal associations between anticholinergic drug use and incident cognitive decline.
To compare the effect of using different anticholinergic drug scales and different models of cognitive decline in longitudinal studies. ⋯ The choice of different methods for defining drug exposure and cognitive decline will have a significant effect on the results of pharmacoepidemiological studies.