Description
In my last editorial I commented on the links between adverse drug reactions and climate. Winter is now upon us, and so I make a plea to consider the risks to older people of out-patient attendance in colder weather; this is always a good time to reassess the necessity of follow-up appointments could the primary care team or community matron serve the patient as well?; is there a community geriatrician or specialist practitioner who visits that care home?
I hope that all staff have had their influenza/swine flu vaccination. Vaccinating hospital and care home staff has long been known to provide better protection to the vulnerable frail elders we care for, as compared to vaccinating those frail elders emphasising their need for care!
The National Audit of Dementia Care in General Hospitals is upon us. This DoH initiated audit should help to improve the experience of older people with dementia and their carers when faced with hospitalisation. Have you registered to take part in this important initiative? Does your institute care about dementia sufferers? Have you emphasised to your Trust board the prevalence of dementia, delirium and depression in older people in your Trust and the impact these illnesses have on length of stay, morbidity and mortality?
In this volume we have a wide selection of excellent articles and I commend them all to you. Whilst we should all be aware of the 3Ds in mental health, many of us will feel least confident in managing late-life depression, hopefully this will change after reading the article by Curtice and Baldwin. Conroy provides a clear review of Advanced Care Planning have you made your preferences known? Cooper provides the second article in a series on education and training, which should help all of us refine our educational techniques. Given that this is the time of year that many of my patients head to warmer climes McIntoshs review on the older traveller will certainly help in my practice. Better triage of acute medical admissions to appropriate specialty beds means I see less liver disease than previously but nonetheless need to keep abreast of this field, the article by Frith and Newton certainly meets my CME needs.
As always, I welcome feed-back from you as to whether the journal is helping you to fulfil your CME needs. Those of you who are members of any BGS SIG should consider sharing your sub-specialty expertise by contributing to this journal. If you do truly have knowledge, why keep it to yourself?
Duncan Forsyth
