Description - Processing of Medical Information in Aging Patients by Roger W. Morrell
Older adults frequently must make decisions about conditions and issues for which they have limited information, and the consequences of the decision often has implications for their physical well-being and their survival. Given the more limited cognitive resources available to older adults, it seems likely that they comprehend and remember less from the information presented to them by their physicians and other health providers. The factors that are important to them in making a medical decision or representing their health conditions may be somewhat different than those of younger adults. Moreover, because older adults typically have more experience with illness and medical settings - due to their longer life history and increasing consumption of medical care with age - on average, they bring more general medical experience and expertise to treatment settings than younger adults. Does this increased expertise compensate for processing declines? Does limited processing capacity combined with expertise qualitatively change the manner in which older adults process information in the medical setting?
When older adults are at a disadvantage due to cognitive declines, how can medical information and the medical environment be restructured to be compatible with the cognitive system of the older adult? Based on a conference sponsored by the Centre for Applied Cognitive Research on Aging, this volume addresses these issues and focuses on understanding the impact of age-related decline in cognitive abilities on medical decisions and the implementation of medical instructions. It explores the meaning of cognitive decline for functioning within the medical environment and examines how medical information and the medical environment can be restructured to accommodate the decreased cognitive function associated with aging. Although the issues discussed in this book are of critical importance in providing effective health care, they have been largely neglected in the national debate over provision of health care for the increasingly aging population.
It is essential that we begin to understand how to present information so that informed choices are made and that patients have sufficient comprehension that they can follow their treatment regimes and understand the importance of those regimes. Divided into four major sections, this volume discusses the following issues: cognitive aging literature and their implications for medical information processing; aging and medical decision-making; aging and medical adherence; and human factors design and remediation of some age-related information-processing problems.
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