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Biomedical subjects

J C Barker

Publications and source records attributed to J C Barker.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Personalization of formal social relationships by the elderly.

This article examines the role of formal support services in the lives of elderly residents of HUD-subsidized buildings. Tenants identified a variety of formal roles as important in their lives. The three most central roles were physician (79%), apartment manager (58%), and social worker (51%). Formal roles were an important source of both instrumental and affective support in a wide variety of circumstances. Many individuals in formal roles were considered friends and the highly personalized nature of these relationships was a surprising finding.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Admission of geriatric patients to hospital on Niue Island 1977-1982.

This report analyses the admission to hospital of people aged 65 years or more on Niue Island in the years 1977-1982. Geriatric admissions, of which 59% were female, comprised 8% of all admissions, equalling the proportion of old people in the community. There were no significant differences by age and or sex for admission rates, reasons for admission, length of stay or disposition. Acute illnesses, particularly respiratory problems, accounted for the majority of geriatric admissions although chronic degenerative disorders, usually cardio-vascular in nature, also played a role. The median hospital stay was 10.5 days, with 81% of all geriatric patients being discharged within one month. The majority (79%) of patients are discharged back into the community. Longest hospital stays resulted from potentially preventable accidents and injury, which constitute a leading cause of death for elderly men, from infectious/parasitic diseases, and from nonspecific nursing care admissions.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Paediatric admissions to hospital on Niue Island, 1977-1982.

For the period 1977-1982, hospital records on Niue Island, western Polynesia, reveal that a total of 929 children aged 0 to 15 years were admitted. Just over half (57%) of these children were male. The majority (62%) were under six years of age; one-quarter (25%) were infants. Leading reasons for admission were respiratory problems (45%) and gastrointestinal disorders (16%). Under five year old males were particularly affected by wheezing bronchitis which accounted for nearly half of all respiratory hospitalisations. The majority of admissions for digestive disorders were of preschoolage children. As age increased, so reason for admission changed from being primarily for respiratory and digestive disorders to being more for accidents, musculoskeletal problems, and conditions of the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Accidents were the third leading cause of admission for males but not for females. Little variation in length of hospital stay was found by age, sex or village of origin. The median stay for paediatric patients was five days. Longest stays come from accidents, parasitic infections, and, for boys, skin and subcutaneous tissue problems.

Adolescent↗