Try to become informed about the medical conditions of your parents. Most older people have one or more chronic conditions such as arthritis or high blood pressure which they are managing in partnership with their primary care physician. The successful management of chronic illness is a key to continued good health. Make sure you ask questions and show your support of their efforts to remain healthy. Continue reading ‘Keeping Current With Medical Conditions’
Care Giving Archive
1. Use Crisisid Medication Section to keep a current list of all medications that are being taken.
2. Get to know who has what positions at the pharmacy.
3. Ask questions! If you or the person you are helping does not fully understand what they are being told about any treatment request a detailed explanation. For example if the prescriber says there maybe be a side effect to a new medication; what are they, when do they normally appear and how and when should you react.
4. Why is the medicine being prescribed and how it is going to help you? Discuss any concerns you have about taking the medicine Continue reading ‘Steps Leading to Better Medication’
How will I benefit from using CrisisID’s medical section?
Published by March 4th, 2008 in Children's Health, Emergencies, Care Giving and Health Records. ClosedIf you are like most people your health information is scattered across many states with a variety of providers and in various facilities. Keeping your own complete, updated and easily accessible health record means you can play a more proactive role in your healthcare. Not only will this play an important role in improving your health but it could save your life. Continue reading ‘How will I benefit from using CrisisID’s medical section?’
“Patients and caregivers are making critical day-to-day decisions regarding the patient’s prescription regimen. But the fact is that up to 20 percent of all initial prescriptions written by physicians are never filled by patients, and of those that are filled, 50 percent are taken incorrectly. Furthermore, 30 percent of all refill prescriptions are never refilled.” Continue reading ‘Overmedication and Under-medication’
There are a number of conditions and diseases that occur frequently among the elderly and may be incorrectly considered as part of the aging process, and therefore be left untreated. The primary care physician should be made aware of the systems because more are treatable. Physicians base the majority of their diagnoses on what they are told by the patient and caregivers. A few of these conditions and illness are listed below. Continue reading ‘Elderly Health Issues’
Be able to distinguish between the normal signs or aging and an illness can be very important as your parents grow older. There is always the danger of missing a sign of misunderstanding a signal of an illness that would respond to treatment. It is very common to experience physical changes in later life, illness, confusion, or depression is not a “normal” part of aging. Continue reading ‘Normal Aging Or Illness’
What you need to know in case mom or dad has a medical emergency. Suggested by the Mayo Clinic
Why do you need to know?
“Sometimes a parent isn’t able to give medical information when an emergency arises, so emergency medical personnel must rely on the adult children or a spouse for that information,” says Paul Takahashi, M.D., a specialist in geriatrics at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. “These are things you should know. Just as you fill out those emergency cards for your kids in school, you should have similar information available about your parents.” Continue reading ‘Your Aging Parents’
Doctors and other medical providers often find themselves in an awkward position when a caregiver first enters the picture. They have a need and are actually required by law, to protect the patient’s privacy. To initiate and stay informed about your parents medical conditions will probably require that your parents sign forms authorizing the medical Continue reading ‘Staying Informed’
- More than 50 million people, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year.
- By the year 2030, nearly 150 million Americans will have some type of chronic illness, a 50% increase since 1995.
- Family caregivers provide the overwhelming majority of homecare services in the
