Some adult care communities such as Kendal at Hanover practice slow medicine. In addition, low-income elderly receiving health services through the PACE Medicaid program receive a similar model of care.
Adult Children Caring for Elderly Parents Need to Understand Slow Medicine
- Slow Medicine is a particular type of health service, based on a philosophy about elderly health care. Though it has much in common with the hospice model, it is different in that it is utilized for all seniors, including healthy ones, not just those at the end of life.
- It recognizes that as seniors age, certain medical protocols can do them more harm than good.
- It focuses on elderly patients being in charge of their own destiny, utilizing health services in the way they see fit, as opposed to a doctor knows best model.
- It acknowledges that death is a natural part of aging, not an anomaly to be prevented at all costs.
- It is focused on quality of life and comfort, rather than cure.
- It is a more humanitarian approach to elderly health care that acknowledges there is a whole person there, not just a body with an illness.
- Slow medicine promotes elderly independence to the maximum extent practicable.
Slow Medicine Slows Down Decision Making
- Doctors who practice this model of care spend more time in dialogue with elderly patients to better understand their wishes and needs.
- They recognize that some seniors may wish to forego tests, procedures and surgeries that are simply too taxing on elderly bodies and lifestyles.
- Pressure is not put on patients to make decisions now or have tests right away. Instead, ongoing dialogue is encouraged and patients are not rushed out of the doctors office.
In this model, doctors encourage seniors to bring problems and symptoms to their attention early on, so that emergencies can be prevented. The elderly, in turn, feel free to comply with this because trust has been established and the senior knows he is not going to be pushed into visiting the emergency room or subjecting himself to a battery of tests every time a symptom occurs.
Dr. Dennis McCullough Coined the Term "Slow Medicine" in His New Book
Dr. Dennis McCullough coined the term "Slow Medicine" and describes the process in his book, My Mother Your Mother: Embracing "Slow Medicine", The Compassionate Approach for Caring for Your Aging Loved One published in 2008 by HarperCollins.
At first glance, it can be difficult for adult children who are caring for their elderly parents to grasp the concept of slow medicine. Adult children want their parents to avail themselves of whatever medical or surgical procedures exist to help them recover from their ailments.
Adult Children Caring for Elderly Parents Can Embrace Slow Medicine
But, according to Dr. McCullough, a geriatrician, the type of aggressive medicine that dominates our health care system is not necessarily in the best interest of the elderly patient. It is not designed to do what is best for the whole person, body, mind and spirit. Insisting that an elderly parent trade in her quality of life for the promise of living longer, may not be the compassionate choice.
Dr. McCullough recommends that adult children begin by entering their elderly parents world with an open heart and listening ears. He suggests taking time to spend time with one’s parents, one on one, and to ask about their health care preferences and their experiences of aging without judging their responses. He recommends that this be done long before a health crisis strikes.
Even if one’s elderly parents are not in a slow medicine setting like Kendal, adult children can begin to approach their parents’ health care issues in this new way, and help advocate for the type of health care the parents want. This can foster trust and possibly a newfound closeness between adult children and their parents.
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