A few years back, I was part of research team collecting data in a nursing home from
residents, staff, and family members for a study about end-of-life care. Most of the
residents in the study were older adults in the late stages of advanced chronic illness.
On this particular day, after collecting data in the morning, I took a break and plopped
down on a lounge chair in front of the TV alongside half a dozen residents at various
stages of listening to the Maury Povitch show. Two men railed at the TV from their
wheelchairs. One waved a fisted arm at the TV and the other shouted at the teenagers
who were being chastised by Mr. Povitch for their weak work ethic. When the commercial
came, the two men calmed down and continued exchanging comments about “kids these
days.” One of the men looked past a fellow resident dozing in her wheelchair at me
and asked what I was doing there. I told him I was from the university there to talk
with people and collect information about their experiences. “Experiences about what?”
he wanted to know. I replied, “I'm here to find out about how we can improve the experience
as the end of life approaches.” He looked bewildered and replied to his buddy, loud
enough for me to hear, “Why do we have to be dying to have someone interested in improving
our lives?” I received a similar response from a family member the following week.
After she answered 30 minutes of questions for our end-of-life study, she wanted to
know where I was two years before when her mother was first admitted during a medical
crisis. “Seems odd there would be so much attention on her now that she is almost
gone.” She had a point. And yet, the problem is not that we are paying too much attention
to people at the end of their lives; instead, the problem is that we are not paying
enough attention earlier in their lives, and specifically, we are not paying enough
attention to psychosocial issues. Articles in this issue of JAMDA are part of an effort to address a variety of psychosocial concerns at different
points in the lived experience, and to push the field forward in important ways.
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References
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Article info
Footnotes
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
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© 2018 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
