Care of dependent and elderly at home

Sukhpal Kaur, Puneet Bains, Indrajit Walia, Amarjeet Singh

H.K.T Publications Chandigarh Unit
Year of Publication: 2011
Price: Rs.340 (P.B Edition) and Rs 490
(Deluxe Hard Bound Edition)
Pages : 78
ISBN : 81-86828-66-4

Reviewed by Upasana Sharma, MPH

The book begins with appreciable comments by Prof Mandeep S Dhillon, HOD, Deptt of Orthopedics, PGIMER, Chandigarh. He has rightly remarked it as an excellent attempt by the authors in bringing out this self care booklet for caregivers of bedridden patients. With increased life expectancy, the percentage of elderly population will significantly increase in India. Bringing out such a book was need of the hour because many such elderly patients remain bedridden. Bedsores develop in such cases quite frequently. Such cases cannot be kept in hospitals for long due to manpower and space constraints. So, for them home based care is the only option available in Indian society. And this book assures full help to caregivers of bedridden people. I feel that this book has a potential to be a turning point for elderly at home. I also feel that if this book gets wider audience, the cause of the elderly will surely be taken up by the concerned authorities at various levels.

In the initial pages, the book starts its journey by first defining and explaining about bedsores. The book rightly focuses on prevention and management of bedsores. The book seeks to enlighten the caregivers / family members about the bedsores, how these develop, what are the risk factors and how to treat and prevent the bedsores. Simple steps of dressing the wound are also discussed.

As mentioned in the book, demedicalization is also a feature of modern society where emphasis on medical hold over the lives of the citizens need to be regularly and continually slackened. An essential feature of a developed society is empowerment and enlightened citizens in which people are able to participate in their own healthcare. The present book is a sincere attempt in this direction.

This book also attempts to explain other common problems faced by bedridden patients i.e pneumonia, urinary infection and bad smell etc. I find this book to be user friendly since bedridden patients frequently face these problems along with bedsores.

The book also talks about some useful home level enabling devices and assistive technologies which I am sure will go a long way in catering to the needs of the elderly and disabled. The book puts forward that the technology has the capacity and law makers have the power to enhance and transform the quality of life of the elderly / disabled people. Therefore, it encourages all of us to work towards using all our resources to help realize the full potential of our interventions for the welfare of the elderly and the disabled.

However, going through the deluxe hard bound edition I feel its appearance is rather shabby. Even the color combination of the cover page could have been made more attractive. So, I suggest that a better version of the same could be made. I also believe that the book could have been more useful if it had colored pictures. Blank spaces on various pages could have been used for highlighting important points. Inclusion of glossary could have helped in widening the scope of readership. Especially nonmedicos would have certainly appreciated the glossary.

doi : 10.5214/ans.0972.7531.180413