Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion
Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion
This resource Being Mortal and What Matters at the End is a detailed first-hand report of the concepts of aging and advancement in medical and healthcare research. The latter two have been impactful in the 20th and 21st centuries as the intervention of medicine enables people to live longer and healthier lives. The concern expressed by the author is that while people are living longer today because of the developments that have taken place in medicine, people appear to be unprepared for the social pressure that taking care of the aged places on them and on healthcare resources. Specifically, the resource sheds light on elderly healthcare and the role that research and advancements in medicine have played. Key issues addressed include the benefits and challenges of increased longevity, dilemma created by a larger elderly population and the need to recognize when nature should be allowed to takes it course through death. Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion
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The author of the text is a surgeon whose life revolves around medicine and healthcare. A medical doctor himself, the author’s parents were both medical doctors to and this qualifies him as the ideal person to share accounts and opinions on healthcare in the 20th and 21st centuries. The core concern that his detailed first-person text is the impact of modern healthcare and medicine on the aging process. Specifically, a key issue addressed in his text is that in spite of many efforts and advancements in medicine, growing old and death are facts of life that a majority are unprepared for. Innovative medicine and healthcare have succeeded in increasing longevity and people are today living longer than ever before. This is especially so in advanced economies such as the United States and most of Western Europe and Japan (Kojima, Liljas & Iliffe, 2019). The author has repeatedly mentioned that the rationale for taking care of aged individuals is to alleviate their health, longevity, and comfort. A key question that professionals in the medical field and people in general forget is that while the alleviation of longevity and health is important, an unforeseeable challenge develops: the fact that at old age, these senior citizens require care and support because of their states of mind is in decline.
A second important point addressed in the resource is that medicine can only do so much to extend the life of human mortals. This is to mean that it reaches a point where medicine can no longer guarantee the health and life of an individual implying that death becomes imminent (Ogura & Jakovljevic, 2018)Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion . It is crucial that healthcare providers and individuals recognize that at one point, they will have to withdraw the medical support for their aged loved ones partly to cease the suffering that their age causes or the inability to meet the needs of the medical requirements needed to maintain their lives.
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Modern medicine has had tremendous success with diseases that led people to die at earlier ages such as cancer, stroke, and heart attacks becoming more treatable. In the United States and most of the advanced economies, there was a time in the early 20th century that life expectancy was as low as 60 to 70 years. The author has disclosed that this has changed because of the many discoveries and innovations in medicine making a majority of the diseases that caused early deaths to be treatable or manageable. An important theme that has been highlighted in great detail in the text is the dilemma created by modern medicine. Gerontology as a discipline in medicine has developed as there has been a growing need to understand the ideas of growing old and healthcare needs at old age. The author has talked about the dilemma of increasing the longevity of human life while the aging process or the mind cannot be changed. The challenge with this is that while people are living longer today, societies are not set up for taking care of them as people in very advanced ages are weaker mentally, require more medical care, and are more vulnerable to illnesses because of declining immunity Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion .
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Cancer is an ailment that has ravaged many societies and healthcare systems are forced to dedicate entire units to oncology and cancer treatment. In my line of work, I deal with oncology patients of all ages but the approach to oncology patients of an elderly population is treated and managed differently than the rest. Following what has been highlighted in the resource, the advanced care directives for elderly patients are different because of age-related issues such as immunity. I submit that the age of a patient is a major factor in determining the appropriate treatment choice. According to Partridge, Deelen and Slagboom (2018)Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion , advanced age in oncology limits the application of intensive cancer therapy because of the hard that it could cause the patients. Sanford et al. (2019) added that even in situations where the patients lack comorbidities and are fully functioning, advanced age is a huge deterrent to intensive treatments that would be used if the patient was younger.
Working in the Radiation Oncology Department brings me face to face with different cancer patients but I am usually concerned with elderly patients because they are the ones who arguably present unique challenges. Zara has noted that the major challenge with elderly cancer patients which limits interventions such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy is that their bodily organs have declined and are often not functioning normally or to their full potential. As a consequence, to this, chances are that exposure to treatment such as radiotherapy will increase the chances of comorbidity. On one occasion, a cancer patient, Miss AJ, was brought to the hospital suffering from a rare type of endometrial cancer. At 87 years of age, curative surgery to remove the tumor was ruled out because she was suffering from other illnesses including diabetes. The key concern for Miss AJ was that at her age she could not withstand the rigors of treatment necessary for cancer treatment. Although after a long discussion among physicians and the patient’s family, she was taken through radiotherapy and responded well. Drawing from the challenges associated with old age, I figured that it was rightful for the hospital to carefully consider whether the treatment method selected would be appropriate for Miss AJ with the overall objective being to guarantee her health after treatment Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion .
Commenting on the debate on elderly patients’ treatment the author Gawande (2014) mentioned in the text that individualization is key. As people get older, their healthcare needs increases and each individual has their own unique medical issues. What this means is that physicians offering treatment to elderly patients, need to recognize that they are more vulnerable to diseases and comorbidities than other younger patients. In view of this, the type of treatment offered should be based on individualized assessment and diagnosis. Doing this gives the physician a dive into the medical condition and history of the patient and this helps offer insights into the most appropriate treatment method needed.
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In a few words, the analyzed Being Mortal and What Matters at the End text is an account of the experiences the author has had in a healthcare setting. Among the many issues he has analyzed is: old age the role that medical innovation has played in it, and the dilemma presented by an aging population on families, spouses, and healthcare resources. As the world continues to advance in technology, health care, and medical research has evolved and contributed massively to a healthier population. Gerontology has emerged as a discipline in medical care because of the rising need in understanding the concept of old age, the proper medical care and treatment needed and also ways in which people need to change their perception about medical intervention to increase longevity.
References
Fung, C. Y., Chen, E., Vapiwala, N., Pohar, S., Trifiletti, D., Truong, M. T., … & Royce, T. (2019). The American Society for Radiation Oncology 2017 radiation oncologist workforce study. International Journal of Radiation Oncology* Biology* Physics, 103(3), 547-556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2018.10.020
Gawande, A. (2014). Being mortal: Medicine and what matters in the end. Metropolitan Books.
Kojima, G., Liljas, A. E., & Iliffe, S. (2019). Frailty syndrome: implications and challenges for health care policy. Risk management and healthcare policy, 12, 23. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S168750
Ogura, S., & Jakovljevic, M. M. (2018). Global population aging-health care, social and economic consequences. Frontiers in public health, 6, 335. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00335
Partridge, L., Deelen, J., & Slagboom, P. E. (2018). Facing up to the global challenges of ageing. Nature, 561(7721), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0457-8
Sanford, A. M., Berg-Weger, M., Lundy, J., & Morley, J. E. (2019). Aging friendly health systems. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 23(2), 119-121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-019-1154-5
This review should present a critique of the book in the context of current and emerging trends in the care of the geriatric population. Identify a question or issue of importance to you as a Gerontology expert.
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Use the following outline: Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion
1. Introduction to the paper (include the citation for the book and discuss what will be presented in your paper – one paragraph). 5%
2. Identify the author’s main point and whether this is achieved (2 paragraphs) 10%
3. Critically reflect on and discuss the book (this is not a summary of the book. Reflect on the main themes of the book) – one page. 25%
4. Identify one issue that was discussed in the book that has implications or importance to you if you choose to work in gerontology. Relate it to a patient that you may have seen in your work environment and/or clinical practice. Use additional resources to substantiate the topic’s importance. (two pages). 40%
5. Summary and further implications for advanced practice providers. (2 paragraphs) 15%
6. References and APA format. 5% Being Mortal And What Matters At The End Discussion