Clinical Geriatrics

The trend toward self-care and patient-focused healthcare continues unabated. To have patients engaged in the management of their own care requires informed patients. The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA) is committed to initiatives in public education so that older adults can act as their own advocates for quality healthcare, and to increase the awareness of the larger public about health issues in the aging population.

Resources are available to older adults, their families, and their caregivers to help in increasing awareness and knowledge of disease prevention, health promotion, and healthcare management in older adults. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief review of the resources available on the FHA website, www.healthinaging.org, that may be of help to your older patients and their families to help promote health, prevent disease and disability, and improve quality of care and quality of life.

Aging in the Know
Public education materials are available free of charge from the FHA website. This website provides older adults with information on how to talk with healthcare providers about important issues such as the use of complementary and alternative medicines, polypharmacy, elder mistreatment, pain management, palliative care, and rehabilitation. It also includes information on the aging process, statistics on aging, and ethical, legal, financial, and insurance issues related to healthcare. These materials are reviewed and updated on a regular basis by experts in geriatric healthcare.

How We Age
Located at www.healthinaging.org/agingintheknow/topics_trial.asp?ch=3, the aging process is described on the genetic, cellular, and bodily levels in consumer-friendly language. The effects of the environment and healthy lifestyle choices are also discussed. Links to healthy lifestyle and prevention activities are available to provide more information, especially recommendations for the frequency of screening tests for breast, colon, and prostate cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, thyroid dysfunction, depression, and dementia.

Elder Health at Your Fingertips
Elder Health at Your Fingertips, located at www.healthinaging.org/agingintheknow/topics_trial.asp?id=3, consists of a series of articles written for the lay consumer. These articles are available for printing from the FHA website on health topics including diseases that cause major morbidity in older adults, such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, eye diseases, hearing loss, influenza, cognitive and psychological diseases and conditions, and urogenital diseases and conditions. Information is also available on nutrition and sexual issues.

FHA Tip Sheets and Patient Education Forums
In addition to these topics, seasonal tip sheets called “FHA Tip Sheets” are released throughout the year on topics such as influenza and pneumonia prevention, winter safety, and travel safety. These sheets are also available for downloading at www.healthinaging.org/public_education/latest_tip_sheets.php.