A Look into the Practice of Slow Medicine

There is a growing fad in treatment when dealing with the elderly. This fad is called slow medicine. Have you ever heard of it? There are many people who would want to make sure that there loved ones, who are getting older, get all the right treatment in order to make sure they can continue to live their lives. This is one of those ways. Let's take some time and talk about what this type of treatment is. Also, we will have some positives and negatives regarding the idea so that you can become more aware of what is going on. If you have to care for your older loved ones then you need to make sure you are doing it right.

So What is It?

Dartmouth Medical School is credited with this research into this approach. What this does is that it encourages physicians to shy away from care that might have high risks but minimal rewards for the elderly. It also is set up to help those patients and their families become educated on how to avoid emergency room trips and hospitalizations that may come about with treatable illnesses. It has the goal of reaching out to comfort.

Positives

The good thing about this type of treatment is that physicians will focus on techniques that work better, instead of trying risky new procedures that may not have much more of a benefit. This means that families are not spending money that they could be putting towards care that is more efficient. Plus, it is very much devoted to comfort, which means that they look to put the elderly in the best place to gain the treatment they need without the elderly having to go out of their way as much. Some of the elderly do not want the newer treatments that are not as firmly tested and this makes sure they can get that.

Negatives

This is not good for the elderly who want to spare no expense to stay alive. Slow medicine is found in many care facilities, and this could be the only option. There are some people who want to try to new procedures, but that could be declined to them if their facility and their doctor are only in the practice of this type of care. This might not give them any other option, which can definitely be a negative. This is why both the patient and the family need to learn about this and where it can be found. That way they know exactly how they want to approach this.