Napa Senior Living: Setting Personal Medical Care Goals When Facing Chronic Conditions

Setting medical care goals is beneficial when facing chronic conditions.

When it comes to chronic diseases, the elderly are usually the experts, hands down, with as many as three out of four older persons impacted by several conditions that are ongoing, necessitate extensive medical treatment, and put limits on activities. With the continuous barrage of bloodwork as well as other tests, doctors’ appointments and procedures, and medications, managing chronic conditions usually takes both a physical and emotional toll, and may very quickly become overwhelming.

Dr. Mary Tinetti, chief of geriatrics and internist at Yale School of Medicine, states, “Once you get three, four, or five and six diseases, several things happen: Number one, almost guaranteed, trying to get one of these diseases under control is going to make one of the other diseases worse. Number two: The more we ask people to do, the more overwhelmed they get and the less they are likely to do.”

For these reasons, Dr. Tinetti has developed the Patient Priorities Care approach, with the goal to reduce the burden of treatment by empowering patients to voice their personal medical care goals – determining what truly matters most to them. A plan of care is then developed to successfully meet those goals. As an example, one person’s goal could be to enhance total wellbeing in the short-term, while another person may seek to improve longevity of life. Moreover, it takes under consideration experiences a senior loved one enjoys and how to discover a way for him or her to continue to take part in them.

The Patient Priorities Care method builds upon the Minimally Disruptive Medicine strategy created ten years ago, which also aims to relieve the stress of chronic condition treatment, but which did not encompass the key component of including feedback from patients to understand what means the most for them.

Ultimately, what many older adults figure out is they want to limit “unwanted care,” that they understand it requires significantly more than the benefit they will receive, such as diagnostic tests and treatments. To that end, aging adults and their loved ones can make use of these beneficial resources to get more successful, self-directed care, such as a discussion guide, overview of health priorities, and much more.

At Hired Hands Homecare, top providers of elder care in Napa and surrounding areas, we are completely devoted to learning what is most essential to the seniors in our care, and to offer the level of care that helps them thrive and attain their goals. It’s why our home care is fully personalized, and always starts off with learning as much as possible about every person and what his or her goals encompass – and then developing a plan of care that can help accomplish those goals. Give us a call at (866) 940-4343  or contact us online to learn more about our top-rated Napa senior living services or visit our service area page to see if we provide care in your California community.