Let the Sunshine In

(Image from blawg401.com)

Another reason for the elderly to avoid the nursing-home option [bold added]:

Up to 70% of nursing home residents receive one or more courses of antibiotics every year for urinary tract infections, pneumonia, cellulitis and other suspected conditions, according to researchers. Yet up to 75% of those prescriptions are given incorrectly—either unnecessarily or the prescription is for the wrong drug, dose or duration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

One of the biggest culprits, researchers say: misdiagnosed urinary tract infections. Only a quarter to a third of people in nursing homes who are diagnosed have actual symptoms, according to several studies. Most have only vague symptoms like confusion or bacteria in their urine that aren’t actually causing an infection,

Hey, doc, I think I have confusion in my urine! But seriously....

The problem acquires urgency because the nursing home population in the United States is likely to be exploding: the over-65 group is the fastest-growing age cohort, smaller families mean that there are fewer children who are able (or willing) to care for their parents at home, and last but not least "everyone knows" someone who lives or has lived in a nursing facility. But such reasoning would be wrong.

Kaiser Foundation data shows that the number of U.S. residents in certified nursing facilities has held steady between 1.35 and 1.39 million over the past ten years. The lowest value in the range occurred in 2014.

What is going on in this industry? Sunshine, please.