Do you feel overwhelmed as you care for your loved one?

Do you wish someone else besides you could take them to doctor appointments?

The Savvy Patient's Toolkit-the comprehensive guide to better health care through the Right Information,in the Right Way, at the Right Time with the Savvy Patient Health Record System enables you share the workload with confidence & peace of mind.

• Of the estimated 25 million caregivers, approximately 81 percent are women and 70 percent are between the ages of 40 and 59.
• The average caregiver is a 46-year-old woman working outside the home and spending 18 hours per week caring for her mother.
• One half of baby boomers still have children at home; one quarter of them are caring for an older adult.

You are not alone even though you probably feel like it at times.

Do you know you can do many things to help prevent medical errors from happening to you and your loved one?

Things such as:

• Medication errors
• Misdiagnosis due to lack of the right information from the patient
• Infections
• And more...

Among the reasons cited in the book for having or being an effective appointment advocate / caregiver are:

• For most people, aging brings with it disease and chronic conditions. Many people have two or more conditions and many take numerous medications to treat or help prevent a variety of conditions. Symptom recognition and piecing information together becomes difficult and brings many challenges. The old adage two heads are better than one applies in these circumstances. It is very helpful to have another person hear what the doctor says and participate in asking questions. An advocate can also help think through options and assist as a sounding board for decision making after appointments.
• An advocate / caregiver, can fight for the patient when he or she can't fight for him or herself. To do it effectively, the advocate must have all of the necessary information.

Ageism???

Yes, ageism is a word. If you are a caregiver of a person in declining health, you are already very familiar with the many challenges this role presents.   Most of us aren't aware of this word or what it means to the person we are caring for. Ageism means discrimination against older people. An article titled, "Second-Class Care, Discrimination Against Older Patients Still Permeates Nation's Healthcare System, 'At Your Age, I Don't Want to Put You Through This'" in the November 2003 issue of the AARP Bulletin was very enlightening on the subject. The article states that, "...older Americans routinely receive second and even third-class medical care at the hands of healthcare professionals who harbor a wide range of ageist assumptions and beliefs." Some consequences of these assumptions and beliefs are:

• Use of less powerful drugs.
• Inappropriate invasive procedures.
• Denial of life-saving surgeries or state-of-the-art care.
• Less aggressive care when in Intensive Care Units.
• Lack of preventative care.
• Undertreatment of cancer.
• No clot-dissolving medication during a heart attack.

One role of the advocate / caregiver is to help recognize ageism, which can make the difference between life and death. Recognizing when it is occurring is often very difficult for a non-medical person. The article states that the main reason for poor care of the elderly is lack of training among doctors in geriatric medicine (care of the elderly). Additional factors include: older people take more time, are more difficult to diagnose and treat, and low reimbursement by Medicare.

One more reason to be a well organized, well informed advocate / caregiver is:

• To help you recognize when ageism is a factor in action plans and decision making, procedures to order or not order, surgeries, medication and treatment strength.

Ageism is why it is even more important that you know how the body functions and all that you can know about your condition(s) or those of the person you are caring for. The PWYD System takes some of the stress ut of being a caregiver by:

• Having all health records in one place.
• Having all information available in an emergency
• Enabling people to share the responsibility.
• and much more...

Chapter 9 speaks more to the roles and responsibilities of an advocate and Chapter 10 provides  a process and tools to help you do research.

"Even though my illness was a trial for you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself." Galatians 4:14 (NIV)

Have you been looking for causes of medication error?