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The Physician and the Care of the Nursing Home Resident

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Geriatric Medicine

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Abstract

The care of nursing home residents is one of the most challenging and rapidly changing areas in medicine today. Insights from the growing body of knowledge that makes up geriatric medicine have begun to alter radically nursing homes. The nursing home was once seen as a warehouse for the hopeless and helpless aged. Now it is becoming the site of active investigation and treatment of illnesses and iatrogenic conditions, as well as the scene of vigorous efforts to maintain function and dignity. This vitalization of nursing home medicine comes at a most opportune time. The enormous growth of the elderly population who may need hospital and nursing home care is occurring at the same time that reimbursement incentives and regulations are limiting hospital stays. The result is an expanding nursing home population that is more acutely ill than in previous eras. Today’s nursing home residents present fascinating and difficult problems in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical conditions that can be properly addressed only by motivated physicians who accept the challenges of medicine in the nursing home.

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Authors
  1. Greg A. Sachs
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  2. Don Riesenberg
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Section of General Internal Medicine, The University of Chicago Medical Center, 60637, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Christine K. Cassel M.D. (Chief) (Chief)

  2. Journal of the American Medical Association, 60610, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Donald E. Riesenberg M.D. (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine) (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine)

  3. Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Donald E. Riesenberg M.D. (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine) (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine)

  4. Department of Medicine, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Leif B. Sorensen M.D., Ph.D. (Associate Chief) (Associate Chief)

  5. Geriatric Medicine, Portland V.A. Medical Center, 97207, Portland, Oregon, USA

    John R. Walsh M.D. (Chief) (Chief)

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© 1990 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Sachs, G.A., Riesenberg, D. (1990). The Physician and the Care of the Nursing Home Resident. In: Cassel, C.K., Riesenberg, D.E., Sorensen, L.B., Walsh, J.R. (eds) Geriatric Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2093-8_51

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2093-8_51

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-2095-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2093-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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