Experts test new tool for providing tailor-made health care to elderly

Providing health care modulated on the specific needs of elderly for re-orienting national health systems toward a change of approach with patients. This should become the reference health strategy for the European Union, if it wants to achieve effective and efficient therapeutic goals, lowering costs while ensuring all appropriate health services, in particular when addressing the paramount issue of population progressive aging.

This is the strong message that emerges from the project SHELTER (http://lnx.starcomitaliaweb.eu/), a project coordinated by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, in Rome where Prof. Bernabei brought together the best international experts in public assistance with the aim of harmonizing and testing a new tool for providing tailor-made health care to the elderly.

This tool is called Minimum Data Set (MDS), an instrument that allows to have a complete view not only of individual pathologies, but also of lifestyle, social environment and economic constraint of the elderly. The MDS is carried out by healthcare professionals (often specialized nurse) through a specific questionnaire that helps assessing, in a standardized way, the problems of the elderly.

SHELTER, so far, analyzed the geriatric health approach of several European countries, where health care is provided according to national protocols, often without taking into account the real needs of the elderly. The data obtained during this study will allow to draw guidelines to help health systems of the EU Member States identifying the most appropriate approaches to each single case.

"Producing health services in series is neither efficient nor effective for medical systems, especially when it comes to provide long-term care for the elderly," explains Prof. Bernabei.

"Instead, we must be comprehensive in taking into account the problems that elder people brings with them: not only diseases, but also socio-economic, familiar issues as well cognitive impairment that affect everyday life and medical treatments." An ineffective health care imposes higher costs on society than a personalized approach does.

A typical example of reduced effectiveness is given by the so-called "boomerang elders" those ones that, once discharged from the hospital, will go back in after few days. Bernabei continues: "These elders respond well to medical treatment but, for different reasons, they might unable to follow them. Being unable to read a prescription or to go to the pharmacy are some of the trivial reasons why the treatment often fail".

Having a medical treatment is not sufficient. Elderly need to be able to access it as well. To overcome these voids, SHELTER is experimenting the use of a new figure "the Guardian Angel", an intermediate operator that follows the elders in the course of their treatment.

"SHELTER" - concludes Bernabei - "has compared and harmonized for the first time the integrated health services offered by various European countries, in the attempt of delineating better management approaches to long-term health care for the elderly, avoiding useless and repeated hospitalizations".

The project SHELTER is a medical research project funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union within the health theme and involves 8 partners of international fame.

Source: The Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore