How can we reduce hospitalizations in nursing home patients? Recent studies have established that half of all hospitalizations of nursing home patients could be avoided with better care. Kathleen Unroe, M.D., and Greg Sachs, M.D., are members of a research team that developed the OPTIMISTIC program, designed to improve the quality of care for seniors in long-term care facilities. The duo joins “Sound Medicine” host Steve Bodgewic to discuss the biggest challenges regarding nursing home care and how the OPTIMISTIC program is designed to improve care outcomes. Unroe is an assistant research professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine and a scientist at the Indiana University Center for Aging Research. Sachs is a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at IU School of Medicine.
What can friends do for you in the face of a life-changing event? WhatFriendsDo.com is a free site that allows users to create a profile for an ailing friend or family member facing a life-altering event, such as serious illness. Through this site family and friends can create an online cohesive community in support of a loved one. Co-founder Aimee Kandrac shares her motivation for founding the site, which has been adapted by IU Health for its website, and how it enables friends and family to schedule caregiving and ease a typically difficult process.
What does it look like when our health care system succeeds? While the American health care system is commonly maligned for being inefficient, ineffective and costly, Stewart Segal, M.D., tends to adopt a different perspective and believes that when our health care system is working, it is unbeatable. Segal, who regularly writes on this topic on his blog LiveWellthy, is a private practitioner and the founder of the Lake Zurich Family Treatment Center in Illinois. Segal sits down with host Anne Ryder to share a story depicting the success of the American health care system and what he considers to be our system’s strengths.
George Sledge: a retrospective on a career in breast cancer treatment and research: In honor of George Sledge’s work at IU “Sound Medicine” will revisit a 2011 interview with the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center professor of medicine. Sledge reflects on his career thus far, including the progression of cancer treatment since the 1980s. Sledge came to Indiana University in 1983. At that time he was the only oncologist with expertise in the area of breast cancer, and it was under his leadership that IU opened its first breast clinic. He departs soon to direct the hematology oncology program at Stanford University.
“Sound Medicine” covers breakthroughs in research and the day-to-day application of recent advancements in medicine. It’s also available via podcast and Stitcher Radio for mobile phones and iPads and posts updates on Facebook and Twitter.
It is co-produced by the IU School of Medicine and WFYI Public Radio (90.1 FM) and underwritten in part by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. “Sound Medicine” airs on the following Indiana public radio stations: WBSB (Anderson, 89.5 FM), WFIU (Bloomington, 103.7 FM; Columbus, 100.7 FM; Kokomo, 106.1 FM; Terre Haute, 95.1 FM), WNDY (Crawfordsville, 91.3 FM), WVPE (Elkhart/South Bend, 88.1 FM), WNIN (Evansville, 88.3 FM), WBOI (Fort Wayne, 89.1 FM), WFCI (Franklin, 89.5 FM), WBSH (Hagerstown/New Castle, 91.1 FM), WFYI (Indianapolis), WBSW (Marion, 90.9 FM), WBST (Muncie, 92.1 FM), WBSJ (Portland, 91.7 FM), WLPR (Lake County, 89.1 FM) and WBAA (West Lafayette, 101.3 FM).
“Sound Medicine” is also broadcast on these public radio stations across the country: KSKA (Anchorage, Alaska), KTNA (Talkeetna, Alaska), KUHB (Pribilof Islands, Alaska), KUAF (Fayetteville and Fort Smith, Ark.), KIDE (Hoopa Valley, Calif.), KRCC (Colorado Springs, Colo.), KEDM (Monroe, La.), WCMU (Mount Pleasant, Mich.), WCNY and WRVO-1 (Syracuse, N.Y.), KMHA (Four Bears, N.D.), WYSU (Youngstown, Ohio), KPOV (Bend, Ore.) and KEOS (College Station, Texas).