Health

Biggest Change in Geriatrics: Consumers Now Driving System

Listen to Dr. Duxbury's discussion:

Perhaps the biggest change in geriatrics over the past decade is that consumers, rather than government and industry, are the driving force for change in the way elderly patients are cared for, says Andrew Duxbury, M.D., of the UAB Center for Aging.

"I began formally in geriatrics in 1991 and completed my fellowship in 1993," says Duxbury. "And I think the biggest change I've noted is the waking up of the public to the fact that the health-care system, as it's currently designed, is fairly broken in terms of providing care for these individuals.

"When I say 'consumer,' I'm not necessarily referring to the elderly community but mostly to their children, the 'boomer generation,' who are having to cope with parents and parents-in-law who have multiple, interactive, chronic health problems. These individuals are finding out that there are other ways of approaching health care for the elderly, and they're finding different ways of getting their loved ones the help that they need.

"In terms of how the field is changing on the clinical end-the actual provision of services-I think the real momentum is coming from concerned family members, and to a lesser extent by older adults who have health problems themselves. For the most part, the last thing an older adult wants to do is go on the web and do extensive research. What they want is someone to help them feel better, right now, and so they're going to turn to the system as they've always turned to it."

A downloadable audio file of Dr. Duxbury's article is also available.