Table of Contents

Introduction. What This Book Is (and What It Is Not)
Part I. Underlying Health State
Chapter 1. Why Health State Matters
Chapter 2. Ingredients of the Underlying Health State
Chapter 3. Thinking like a Geriatrician: Geriatric Syndromes
Chapter 4. Determining Your Family Member's Health State
Part II. Going to the Doctor
Chapter 5. The Role of the Primary Care Physician
Chapter 6. What to Expect from Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants
Chapter 7. What to Expect from Nurses, Social Workers, and Therapists
Chapter 8. What to Expect from Medical Specialists
Chapter 9. What a Geriatric Assessment Is and When to Ask for One
Part III. Going to the Hospital
Chapter 10. The Perils of Hospitalization
Chapter 11. Choosing a Hospital
Chapter 12. Working with a Hospitalist
Chapter 13. The Technological Imperative
Chapter 14. Acute Care for the Elderly Units
Chapter 15. Hospital-Based Palliative Care
Part IV. Going to the Rehabilitation Facility
Chapter 16. Choosing a Rehab Facility
Chapter 17. How Rehab Runs
Chapter 18. Your Role in the Rehab
Chapter 19. Hospital-Lite—Another Role for Rehab
Chapter 20. Discharge Home
Part V. Chronic Care at Home
Chapter 21. Your Medical Bag
Chapter 22. High Blood Pressure
Chapter 23. High Cholesterol
Chapter 24. Arthritis
Chapter 25. Coronary Heart Disease
Chapter 26. Diabetes
Chapter 27. Chronic Kidney Disease
Chapter 28. Heart Failure
Chapter 29. Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
Chapter 30. Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease
Chapter 31. Depression
Chapter 32. Prevention
Part VI. Acute Care at Home
Chapter 33. Chest Pain
Chapter 34. Shortness of Breath
Chapter 35. Cough
Chapter 36. Nausea and Vomiting
Chapter 37. Constipation
Chapter 38. Confusion
Chapter 39. Dizziness
Chapter 40. Bleeding
Chapter 41. Abdominal Pain
Chapter 42. Fever
Part VII. Care in the Nursing Home
Chapter 43. Choosing a Nursing Home
Chapter 44. Why You Will Still Be a Caregiver
Chapter 45. Medical Care in the Nursing Home
Chapter 46. Team Meetings in the Nursing Home
Part VIII. Getting Additional Help
Chapter 47. Choosing a Health Plan
Chapter 48. Paying for Health Care
Chapter 49. Planning for Future Medical Care
Chapter 50. Community Resources
Chapter 51. Home Hospice
Chapter 52. Involving the Rest of the Family
Chapter 53. Caregiver Support
Epilogue. Rest in Peace
Acknowledgments
Index

Promotional Information

An indispensable, comprehensive reference for family caregivers.

About the Author

Muriel R. Gillick, MD, a physician specializing in geriatrics and palliative care, is a professor in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is the author of The Denial of Aging: Perpetual Youth, Eternal Life, and Other Dangerous Fantasies and Old and Sick in America: The Journey through the Health Care System.

Reviews

An invaluable resource . . . Gillick knows the system inside and out and is brilliant at making complex systems easy to understand. If you've read her other books (which I recommend you do) you'll recognize her narrative style, which reads like advice from a caring and well-informed friend.
—The Caregiver Space