Pt ages

[martymoose]

I've noticed lately there seems to be two groups of pt's we've had lately.They're either in their late 80's to 90's, or they are in their 50's.

we've also had quite a few of those 50's ( and even late 40's) die from eschf, or esrd.

and believe it or not, a lot of those 80-90 y/o are still living at home( and some of them still driving:wideyed: )

Interesting- is it the older are taking better care of themselves, have medicare, got to retire, enjoy medical advances,; and the youngers usually have no jobs( cant work ) no insurance , and no hope?

Any thoughts- anyone notice this on their general med floors?

[firstinfamily, RN]

Welcome to the Baby Boomers!!! The generation who abused their bodies more than any other previous generation!! It use to be I would not see a heart attack younger than 70-80 years old, but in the late 90's I started seeing them in their mid 40-50's. They are the largest generation but the ones who truly abused their bodies and even though they are not physically working as hard as previous generations the amount of stress they experience is more!!! The older ones can sometimes do more physically than the younger ones because they did more physical work at a younger age plus they are living longer with the improvements in medical care as far as medications improving their conditions and diagnostic testing being more advanced than before. It is an interesting time to be in the medical field. We have the generation which is the longest living generation ever, and the largest populated generation ever both hitting the healthcare environment at the same time!!! This is one reason why medicare programs need to be updated and revamped. My mother is 89, she lives alone, she has some chronic health problems, but is basically healthy. The question will be will the boomers also feed into the Long Term Care facilities or want to be rehabilitation and live in their own dwellings. We are still going to see major impacts on the way healthcare is provided in this country!!!

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I can't disagree with firstinfamily's post, even though I wish I could because I'm part of the Baby Boomer generation---all of whom are now 50 and over---and I myself have several chronic illnesses including HTN and diabetes. But it's true.....when I was still nursing, I saw a lot of people come into long-term care who were my age or a few years older. Many of them had chronic health conditions such as CHF, diabetes, and psychiatric issues, but there were also those with fresh strokes and cardiac surgeries. I've also seen 80-year-old moms visit their 60-year-old children in the nursing home.

I've also noticed that the daily obituaries in the newspaper contain at least one or two people who died in their 50s or 60s, and the cause is almost always cancer or heart disease, although some are suicides. Yes, we have abused our bodies with too much food and drink, too much stress, too little exercise and too little free time to rest and rejuvenate. And as a former boss put it, our parents' generation invented the Big Mac, and our generation super-sized it.