Welcome to Health Care POV | sign in | join

BROWSE BY TAGS

Clinical Corner

Health Care Reform and LTC: Part II
October 15, 2009 2:56 PM by Carol Kleinman
Issues of long-term care have dominated public concern since President Clinton proposed his health care reform plan in 1993. Efforts towards a universal long-term care policy address priority areas of aging and disability in various ways such as the use Read More...
0 comments »     
Health Care Reform and LTC: Part I
October 9, 2009 9:21 AM by Carol Kleinman
If you suffer a massive heart attack and need expensive medical care in your golden years, it is likely that Medicare will cover your bills. But if you have the bad luck to contract Alzheimer's disease, sorry, you're on your own. Howard Gleckman's new Read More...
0 comments »     
Health Care and the Common Good
August 31, 2009 12:58 PM by Carol Kleinman
So, the basic debate in the U.S. over healthcare is not really about costs or the freedom to choose one's own doctor. The facts are clear: The World Health Organization rates the U.S. 37 th (!) in healthcare while we spend a much higher percentage of Read More...
0 comments »     
What about quality of life?
August 14, 2009 10:52 AM by Carol Kleinman
We now save people who would have died 30 years ago. People with severe trauma, stroke, heart attack, brain damage, and so on. We save preemies who would never have survived even 20 years ago. We see people living with severe chronic illness, people in Read More...
0 comments »     
Health Care Supply & Demand
August 5, 2009 9:45 AM by Carol Kleinman
While most goods and services adhere to the basic economic principle of supply and demand, in many ways healthcare does not. The principle of supply and demand describes a balance that develops between the supply of an item or service and the demand for Read More...
2 comments »     
Is Health Care a Right or a Privilege? Part 2 - Con
July 28, 2009 1:32 PM by Carol Kleinman
The notion of a right to health care is silly. The health care worker's labor is his/her own. What possible claim could be made to that person's valuable work that would not also apply to the barber, the farmer, or the auto mechanic? Should those people's Read More...
0 comments »     
Is Health Care a Right or a Privilege? Part 1 - Pro
July 20, 2009 3:03 PM by Carol Kleinman
Once upon a time before the Military-Industrial-Government Complex, Americans were mostly rural and relied on direct sources of food, water, fuel, and shelter. Personal involvement in and responsibility for those needs has decreased with the transformation Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part X: Laws & Checklists
July 7, 2009 10:38 AM by Carol Kleinman
The following recommendations are from the American Veterinary Medical Association : Laws Governing AAA, AAT and RA Programs Most states allow animals in long term healthcare facilities and other institutions, with some restrictions. Animals are usually Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part IX: Key Components for Successful Use of Animals in AAA, AAT and RA Programs
June 17, 2009 10:16 AM by Carol Kleinman
The following recommendations are from the American Veterinary Medical Association : Interdisciplinary cooperation. Successful AAA, AAT and RA programs are inherently interdisciplinary and present a wonderful opportunity for veterinarians, physicians, Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part VIII: American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines
June 10, 2009 3:05 PM by Carol Kleinman
The following is the American Veterinary Medical Association's statement of policy, retrieved from: http://www.avma.org/issues/policy/animal_assisted_guidelines.asp When the AVMA officially recognized, in 1982, that the human animal bond was important Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part VII: Starting a Pet Therapy Program
June 2, 2009 1:34 PM by Carol Kleinman
The way in which AAT is undertaken depends on the needs and abilities of the individual patient and the limitations of the facility. Dogs are the most common visiting therapy animals, but cats, horses, birds, rabbits, and other domestic pets can be used Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part VI: Examples
March 30, 2009 12:41 PM by Carol Kleinman
The literature is replete with anecdotal examples of the effectiveness of pet therapy. I selected several that are particularly relevant to long term care and I recount them here: One example is of an elderly resident in a long term care facility who Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part V: The Elderly
March 20, 2009 10:19 AM by Carol Kleinman
Pet therapy is often used for the treatment of the elderly. The elderly commonly face problems of loneliness and isolation. Having a pet provides a sense of companionship. In Europe and the United States, many hospitals and long term care facilities have Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part IV: More Therapeutic Value
March 11, 2009 10:41 AM by Carol Kleinman
A dog can draw out people who have problems communicating. Dogs communicate on an instinctual, nonverbal level that is easier to relate to by people who have difficulty communicating verbally. It may take days to engage certain patients or residents in Read More...
0 comments »     
Pet Therapy Part III: Therapeutic Value
February 27, 2009 11:11 AM by Carol Kleinman
The therapeutic use of pets is considered to be a sensory modulation approach. The integration of animal-assisted therapy into practice has been discussed in nursing, psychology, and rehabilitation literature, as well as others. However, it has only in Read More...
1 comments »