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J F Constable

Publications and source records attributed to J F Constable.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

The physician's role in an aging America: taking the team approach to eldercare.

With the advent of an aging patient population, the healthcare community is sharpening its focus on geriatric medicine and on how current resources will fare under the demands of an aging America. One approach to effective eldercare is that of a "team" of physician and nonphysician providers, cooperating to meet the multifaceted needs of the elderly patient. As the traditional primary care provider, the physician is a natural choice for the role of team leader.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Collaboration needed to bolster home care.

To survive financially and better meet the needs of the elderly, hospitals must take the lead and collaborate with community leaders to enhance home healthcare, which can help the elderly maintain their independence and prevent institutionalization. Informal home healthcare is provided mostly by women, primarily wives, daughters, and daughters-in-law. These care givers often take the elderly person into their own homes, which can increase tension and conflicts, crowd the home, and propagate adverse perceptions by the spouse or children. Many care givers quit their jobs, thereby forfeiting income and relinquishing the mental stimulation of co-workers. Care givers who remain employed sacrifice their free time, family time, and other social opportunities. Other factors that influence the degree of stress and burden on the care giver include the type, extent, and duration of care needs; the location of home care; use of formal services; and the care giver's age, health status, and relationship to the elderly patient. Without help from formal home care agencies and local support groups, informal care giving at home may diminish rapidly due to physical and emotional exhaustion, sometimes resulting in abuse of the elderly patient. Government intervention is necessary if informal home care is to continue as a viable source of long-term care. In addition, local community medical societies must develop a team approach involving physicians, social workers, and nurses to adequately supplement home care givers or help single homebound elderly. Hospital administrators must work with community leaders to implement formal networks of home care services, such as respite care, adult day care, meals on wheels, and nursing care.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Long-term care coverage: the need is now.

As the world population steadily ages, the future of America's long-term healthcare system is facing a major crisis. By the year 2050, approximately 22 percent of the United States population is expected to be over the age of 65 and more than 19 million Americans will require long-term care. Long-term care financing will be increasingly important, since nursing home care can lead to financial catastrophe. The key to preventing this catastrophe for the elderly is appropriate third-party coverage. Although more insurance companies are offering long-term care policies today, three major obstacles to the success of such insurance remain: lack of knowledge about the extent of public funding for long-term care, denial of the need for such insurance, and lack of public awareness of potential liabilities inherent in financing long-term care. Congress is supporting the development of long-term care insurance, and states are placing long-term care legislation at the top of their agendas. Tax incentives have been proposed in the form of tax-free individual retirement accounts to finance long-term care, individual medical accounts, tax credits for policyholders, and favorable tax treatment for employers who offer long-term care benefits. But only coordination of public and private financiers will ensure adequate protection for all consumers of long-term care services.

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PubMed1986

The effect of social support and the work environment upon burnout among nurses.

Burnout among hospital-based nurses appears to be a serious problem affecting the delivery of health care. Findings from previous empirical research indicate that burnout among these nurses results from reactions to adversities inherent in the hospital work environment, and that burnout can lead nurses to change jobs and/or abandon the practice of nursing. This paper presents and discusses research findings on the effects of various aspects of the hospital work environment on burnout among nurses, and, in addition, evaluates the effects of social support in reducing and/or mitigating the relationship between negative aspects of the work environment and burnout. A multiple regression approach is employed to test the hypothesized model. The data were collected from a sample of nurses (n = 310) employed at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center (FAMC), Aurora, Colorado. The major determinants of burnout were found to be low job enhancement (autonomy, task orientation, clarity, innovation, and physical comfort); work pressure; and lack of supervisor support, along with the interaction term involving the combined effects of job enhancement and supervisor support. These predictors, in conjunction with demographic and job-related variables explained 53% of the variance in emotional exhaustion, a central component of the burnout syndrome.

Burnout, Professional↗