Old Age in Transition: The Geriatric Ward / Edition 1

by Peter Woolfson

Overview

Most studies of geriatric patients have focused on nursing homes. In fact, most people are placed in these institutions only after being evaluated by medical and social service staff. This ethnography details the day-to-day experiences of a geriatric and assessment unit by examining the staff, families, and patients themselves. It looks at the activities that take place in the unit as well as the less obvious cultural patterns of the process. Using the Ethnography of Speaking method, it explores the human side of this most difficult of life's decisions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780897894975
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/26/1997
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

PETER WOOLFSON is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Vermont. He is currently chair of the Anthropology Department and chair of the Education Committee for the Center for the Study of Aging and task force member of the Education Committee at the Centre for Aging at McGill University in Montreal.

Table of Contents

Figures
Preface
Introduction
The Setting
Participants
Ends and Genres
Acts
Instrumentalities
Norms and Keys
Discussion and Recommendations
The Geriatric Ward Revisited
The Geriatric Ward Revisited Again
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: MaryBeth Tank Buschmann, RNC, PhD (University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing)
Description: This is a fascinating ethnographic study of a geriatric assessment and rehabilitation unit in a large hospital. The approach is anthropological, specifically using sociolinguistics.
Purpose: The purpose is to examine the staff, families, and patients themselves within the context of the unit activities and the process of cultural patterns.
Audience: The audience includes those who care for older adults and their families, and the readers who may have to make decisions for themselves concerning care in later years.
Features: The book is organized around the word "SPEAKING," with each letter specifying a sociolinguistic unit of analysis: setting, participants, ends, act sequences, keys, instrumentalities, norms, and genres.
Assessment: This ethnographic approach is unique and most enlightening for the majority of health professionals in geriatrics. It is also most informative for families and patients in providing information for decision-making about care in later years. In addition to the sociolinguistic bulk of the book content, the author revisited the geriatric unit two years and four years post-investigation.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

This is a fascinating ethnographic study of a geriatric assessment and rehabilitation unit in a large hospital. The approach is anthropological, specifically using sociolinguistics. The purpose is to examine the staff, families, and patients themselves within the context of the unit activities and the process of cultural patterns. The audience includes those who care for older adults and their families, and the readers who may have to make decisions for themselves concerning care in later years. The book is organized around the word "SPEAKING," with each letter specifying a sociolinguistic unit of analysis: setting, participants, ends, act sequences, keys, instrumentalities, norms, and genres. This ethnographic approach is unique and most enlightening for the majority of health professionals in geriatrics. It is also most informative for families and patients in providing information for decision-making about care in later years. In addition to the sociolinguistic bulk of the book content, the author revisited the geriatric unit two years and four years post-investigation.

MaryBeth Tank Buschmann

A study of a geriatric assessment and rehabilitation unit in a large hospital in Montreal, Canada, drawing on research conducted in 1991-92 and taking an anthropological/sociolinguistic approach. Focus is on staff-patient interaction and patterns of communication. Describes the setting and participants in the study, and looks at goals and outcomes of activities on the geriatric ward, communication in discharge meetings, visual communication, and norms of interaction and interpretation. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews