Geriatrics | Penn Today

A person facing the camera shrugging with arms wide open. Another person is standing to the right, and two others are in the background.

An improv class that enriches the mind and soul, even remotely

The Penn Memory Center’s Cognitive Comedy program gives people with memory impairments and their caregivers a no-pressure space to think creatively, socialize, and be part of a community.

When will long-term care facilities reopen to visitors?

Jason Karlawish of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the effect of social-distancing requirements on long-term-care facilities. “It’s not just COVID that’s killing residents in long-term care,” he said. “It’s the isolation, the loneliness.”

For residents’ good, nursing homes should consider re-allowing visitors

Jason Karlawish of the Perelman School of Medicine, Allison K. Hoffman of the Law School, and a Harvard Medical School colleague advocated for a COVID-19 containment strategy that allows for long term care facility residents to receive visitors.

Elderly person lying alone in hospital bed.

Social distancing and dying alone

COVID-19 has led to drastic changes in how hospitals provide end-of-life care to patients and their families. With strict no-visiting limitations in place in an effort to stem contagion, patients have been dying alone.

Array of multiple kinds of prescription pills spilled on a surface.

Long-term use of muscle relaxants has skyrocketed since 2005

Penn Medicine researchers found the drugs were prescribed disproportionately to older adults, often concurrently with opioids, despite warnings against this dangerous combination.

Elderly person holds their hands to their face wearing a medical face mask.

Responding to challenges of older adults with COVID-19

Researchers draft a model for transitional care for an aging community transitioning from a hospital back to the community post-COVID.

Coronavirus exploited failure of Pa. health officials to improve long-standing problems with nursing home oversight

Rachel Werner of the Perelman School of Medicine said relaxing nursing home regulations during the pandemic was a matter of “balancing risks.” “The trade-off was, had they not been relaxed, other things would be worse,” she said.

U.S. nursing home population shrank roughly 10% this year

Rachel Werner of the Perelman School of Medicine and Leonard Davis Institute said Medicare’s method of reporting nursing home deaths lumps together several time periods. “It doesn’t give us a full picture of the impact of the pandemic,” she said.

Elderly person in a wheelchair sits by an open window next to their bed in a nursing home.

Can Yelp reviews identify better skilled nursing facilities?

A new study suggests that hospitals, payers, and patients might learn something useful about the quality of skilled nursing facilities by checking online Yelp reviews.

An elderly person’s hands holding a iPad.

Virtual palliative care doctors are a ‘bright spot’ in dark times

An initiative to provide virtual palliative care for nursing home patients, their families, and staff in a group of West Philadelphia nursing homes is providing comfort in the best and safest way possible during the pandemic.

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