The Physician's Oath promises to approach all patients with integrity, candor, empathy, and respect.  I believe that most doctors take their oath seriously.  I believe most doctors study very hard because they truly want to help other people and make a positive difference in the field of medicine.  Doctors have a tremendous responsibility in today's messy healthcare environment.  They work long hours, have many patients and deal with lots of complications to ultimately deliver the care that their patients need.  So, is it really possible for doctors to provide compassionate care?

I recently attended a conference and listened to a geriatrician share that the average number of medications her patients are on when they come to her practice is a shocking 18 - 24.  That's per DAY! No doubt we have a serious epidemic in this country - our seniors are drowning in drugs.

As a  geriatric nurse, I rather frequently see the effects of age and disease on the body. Of course, different diseases manifest in different ways, and while some of those signs and symptoms may mirror those of old age, others may not. As a result, it is important that I, and other geriatric nurses like me, recognize how Parkinson’s disease might affect a patient under our care so that we can better care for them and meet their needs.

The increasing diversity of the U.S. and other nations offers opportunities and challenges for senior care  care providers, health care systems, and policy makers to create and deliver services to culturally diverse patients and to train and increasingly culturally diverse workforce. Cultural competence refers to an ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. Cultural competence comprises four components: (a) awareness of one's own cultural worldview, (b) attitude towards cultural differences, (c) knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews, and (d) cross-cultural skills.   Developing cultural competence through training can result  in a better ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures and can lead to a 15% decrease in miscommunication.  In senior care, this communications training can significantly improve outcomes, especially in caring for those with dementias, chronic illness, pain and at end-of-life.

In my office there is a framed print of Nelson Mandela's famous quote "It always seems impossible until IT'S DONE".  I believe hospitals have procrastinated long enough in becoming dementia friendly and the urgency to GET IT DONE is now.