Newsletter

Forget the patient experience in hospitals. Forget the resident experience in senior communities. It’s time to think about the aging experience holistically.

Most inpatient stays—and, for that matter, most of healthcare—is consumed by older adults.

In 2015, nearly 13 million inpatient hospitalizations were adults age 65 and older, according to late 2017 data. Boomers followed with close to 9 million hospitalizations. 

Yet the experience of care for older adults has not significantly changed over the years.

I recently received this remarkable letter from a physician;

“I wanted to share a recent experience with all who have the privilege of working with patients. I write this feeling quite humbled.  Please allow me to give a little background about my medical history so that one may better understand my perspective. It’s been quite some time since the table was reversed for me that is from doctor to patient yet this recently happened. I have had several admissions as a child due to a chronic GI condition and I think I may have forgotten what is what like or perhaps my perspective was different as a child.  This recent experience involved a malady from a recent travel abroad and found me three days (as an inpatient on a) Medsurg floor. As I reflect upon my experience I realized a recurring theme that changed the whole experience from the moment I entered the ED to my discharge.   Simply put people were kind."