New Discoveries

Technology is becoming prominent in todays health care. Many patients prolonged things such as surgeries because either the procedure was to expensive or the recovering time was extremely long and painful. Now and days, outpatient facilities have reduced the concerns about recovery time and cost. Many doctors have discovered ways to perform procedures that cuts down on the recovery time. One invasive procedure that many people dread having is hip and knee replacements. On average the recovery time from a hip or knee replacement is 3 to 6months. I came across a doctor by the name of Steve Nguyen who has discovered a knee replacement technique with a recovery that is less than a week. This discovery is ground breaking for the health care industry. Patients that were hesitant towards getting this major surgery are now more optimistic about it because of  shorten recovery time.

Dr. Nguyen is an orthopedic traumatologist and joint replacement specialist who graduated from Stanford Medical School in California. He has introduced the invasive approach to treating orthopedic trauma and has also invented new types of implants and devices to aid in the success of the surgeries. He calls this discovery Freedom Knee Replacement. This surgical method provides a pain free knee that is functional and long lasting. Freedom Knee Replacement has a more rapid return of knee function and a smaller scar from the surgery due to the smaller incision technique Dr. Nguyen uses. 

This discovery is a example of the advancements that are being made in health care today . It will effect many long term care patients who are in need of replacement surgery but doesn’t want to go through with it. I had a chance to talk with one of the representatives at Dr. Nguyen’s office who enlightened me that a 81 year old woman received the surgery and was walking four days later. This goes to show that although everyone is not a candidate for replacement surgeries this particular technique can be performed on array of ages. 

Technology is becoming an imperative part of health care. The concerns of today will no longer be the concerns of tomorrow. I am exhilarated to see what the future holds for the health care industry. With discoveries such as Freedom Knee I can see that possibilities for a better tomorrow are endless. For more information on Freedom Knee visit Dr. Nguyen’s website www.freedom-knee.com. Here you can watch some of the patient testimonies and read more about this extraordinary discovery. 

References

http://www.freedom-knee.com/index.html

Palm Garden of Orlando

The Long Term Care I choose to visit was Palm Garden of Orlando. At first I really didn't see the point of visiting a LTC because I thought  they’re all the same but to my surprise this facility was extremely nice. The first thing that i noticed was the smell , which didn’t smell like a usual nursing home. It had a clean fresh smell (not like cleaning supplies ). Even though we couldn’t go inside a actual room, we took glance and most of the rooms looked spacious and homey. Something that I can say was typical was that a lot of patients were sitting around the nursing station. 

One thing that I liked about this particular facility was that they had 3 sides and one of the sides was for dementia patients. I liked the fact that they the patients separated in different sections depending on their condition because it made it easier to plan patient daily care, and also things such as lunch will be easier to facilitate because everyone is somewhat similar.  One thing that I wish I could’ve seen was the PT gym. The administrator talked highly of the gym. Not many LTC facilities that I have been to had a actual PT gym. Overall my experience at Palm Gardens of Orlando was good. If i had to place my mother in a LTC this one would definitely be one of my top choices. 

Future Problems in Health Care

There are many problems in the economy today. One of the many problems that people over look is the decrease in savings. According to researchers if the savings do not increase and the government programs do not get stronger many of the retirees will have serious problems with paying for long term care. To solve this problem some people invest in long term care health insurance.

According to CSBmoneywatch.com there are 4 things you should try to avoid when looking for long term care health insurance. The first one is overpaying. In order to keep the coverage affordable you should contact a couple of insurance agents, ask them to suggest a coverage that fits your needs and compare them. The average stay in a nursing home is 2.4 years so getting a policy that cover 2-3 years should suffice. Other issue you should consider is your premium. Unfortunately there is no way you can predict if your premium will increase or not. Experts say the younger you are when you get the policy the more likely you are to face a hike in your premiums. If this does occur the options you have depend on your state laws. The third thing that you should keep in mind is that your claim could be denied. Many of the insurers decline claims because they can’t raise rates. The best way to avoid this situation is to review the policy thoroughly and share the details and fine print with your family while you’re still healthy so that you know what obstacles that you might run into in the future. The fourth and last thing to remember is that there is always a possibility that the insurance company could go under or get bought out by another company. To be prepared you should check the insurer’s health rating. All in all I think that these for tips will help out when the time comes to start planning our long term care. The better prepared we are the easier the transition will be.

By definition long term (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or  who are disabled and needs care over a long period of time. When I hear the phrase LTC I think about my nursing rotations in the nursing homes. Working in the nursing homes changed my outlook on long term health care. After working in many different types of nursing homes I came to the conclusion that no matter what I would never put any of my family member s in a nursing home. One of the main problems in the nursing home is that the nurses and CNAs have too many patients to take care therefore the care of the patients are rushed. I would rather hire a live – in nurse to stay with them that why I can know that my family well be taking care of.  Hopefully one day I can be the beginning of a change and open my own LTC facility. That way I can prove to people that all nursing homes don’t have to have a certain smell and the patients and their will have a feeling of security and know that their family member will be well taken care of.