The expirence at the Geriatric's ward

One month after starting working at the Geriatric's ward, there are several things I would like to share. It is not new that the population demographics are changing very fast and the different fields of the economy are struggling to ensure fair systems to senior people.

This ward accept senior people over 80-85 years of age. As a part of the department of Internal Medicine and Metabolic disorders of a public hospital it is fully supported by the Czech government. However, as I understood later, the purpose of this ward is not to be used as a social dump for dependent senior people, but as a diagnostic centre. In a few words and in practice, this is what happens: senior people come to the Emergency department with their particular complains, through the General Practitioner or through the Paramedic services. Then, after a quick stabilization they are sent to the Geriatrics ward. Here we have the function of assessing the social situation of the patient and the prognosis, keeping in mind that old people are more fragile, and amenable to subtle changes with much greater consequences when compared to the 70kg, 35 years old male model.

We have a goal of a hospital staying of no longer than 1-2 weeks because the lying in bed and all the inactivity results in muscle atrophy without the possibility to walk again (you can really see the muscles getting atrophied). According to the particular comorbities of each patient, we have the chance to discharge them to their homes without additional care (ideal); with some Home Care service that will bring them food and do minor hygienic procedures; to discharge to long-term care hospitals (LDNs - léčebna dlouhodobě nemocných) in case of a high-degree of dependency (dementia, complicated diabetes mellitus, long-term catheterized people, chronic infectious diseases); to senior houses (DD - domov důchodců) in cases of loneness despite good health; and to hospices in case of terminal stage diseases. So, Geriatrics is thrilling because of the fast changes occurring in the bodies that lived already 80, 90, 100 years and, at the same time, demands knowledge about the best social service to provide to the individual patient.

"Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." Samuel Ullman