CARE at the UW-Madison School of Nursing
The following is an excerpt from the “Planning for your hospital” section of the Dementia Friendly Hospital Toolkit developed by CARE and clinical and research faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing. As we developed CARE’s Dementia Friendly Hospital Toolkit, we learned from two Wisconsin hospitals with their own dementia friendly initiatives: the …
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else, so I got involved,” says Rosie Bartel. Bartel describes herself as a wife, mother, grandmother, and educator. She’s also a patient advisor to health researchers and scholars, drawing on her own devastating healthcare experiences. “In August of 2009 I underwent a total right knee replacement that …
Dwayne Dobschuetz, APRN, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner at Northwestern Medicine and University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing alumnus, remembers the day his career changed. He had worked in Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s emergency department for nearly 20 years, and had recently joined three other nurses there in focusing on older patients’ needs. “The physician who headed the …
In complex situations, new policies can have unpredictable effects. For example, some hospital safety measures can make older adults more likely to fall. “Falls are increasingly being used to judge quality of care in our hospitals, particularly for older adult patients,” says Barb King, PhD, RN, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School …
Decisions about medical treatments towards the end of life are often difficult. Patients may be in pain as they and their family members struggle to understand options and come to agreement. Poor decisions may unintentionally reduce quality of life for very ill people. As an ICU nurse and researcher, Kristen Pecanac, PhD, RN is familiar …
In the United States, older adults have more than one-third of all operations. Each year, some 500,000 elders consider major surgery, such as coronary bypasses or organ transplants. As people are leading not only longer but also healthier lives, physicians are more likely to suggest aggressive treatment options for older adults. Many elders benefit from …
For older adults undergoing surgery, delirium is a common and serious complication. Older adults have a 15 to 50 percent chance of experiencing delirium following a major operation. And it’s older adults “who, as a group, undergo more than one-third of all inpatient operations in the United States annually,” notes Thomas Robinson, MD, MS, FACS, …
For older adults admitted to the hospital, whether they’re able to walk and remain independent when they’re discharged may all depend on the nurse they get, according to a new study in the International Journal of Nursing Studies by UW–Madison School of Nursing research faculty Barbara King, PhD, RN (see photo), and Barbara Bowers, PhD, RN, …