Tijdschrift voor gerontologie en geriatrie
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Tijdschr Gerontol Geriatr · Jun 2010
Editorial[About elderly people and the healing effect of poetry].
Poems about aging and old age are published regularly in anthologies and websites. Over 15% of persons of 16 years and older in the Netherlands write poems at some time, including 8% of the elderly. ⋯ There is more and more research into the effects of creative writing on many health indicators at the physiological, emotional and cognitive levels of functioning. In the Dutch speaking countries, too, the possible benefits of poetry deserves the attention of gerontological practitioners and researchers.
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Tijdschr Gerontol Geriatr · Mar 2007
Editorial[Palliative care in dementia and the dismantling of the treatment function of nursing homes].
Palliative care is mostly restricted to the terminal phase of incurable illness. According to the WHO revised definition palliative care is specifically directed towards patients and families facing life-threatening illness. This definition is not adequate to orient and direct palliative care policies in non-cancer diseases such as dementia. ⋯ This disease trajectory necessitates an alternative palliative approach, implying a proactive attitude of nursing home physicians in facilitating early and timely discussions with patients and their proxies on advance care planning and treatment of complications and concomitant diseases. This, together with their specific training in the treatment of the long-term sequelae of chronic diseases, defines the success of Dutch nursing home medicine in foregoing inappropriate hospital admissions and providing adequate medical care in the nursing home. However, recent reorganisations of nursing home care and its funding threaten to downgrade the quality of medical care for patients with dementia in Dutch nursing homes by focusing unilaterally on welfare ideology and 'marketization' of long term care, thus underestimating the importance of a palliative care policy in dementia.