Recent Contributions

The elderly population are the highest users of hospital¹ and nursing home care² for all adult age groups. However, they are not a homogeneous population with some being frail. Despite the increasing burden of frailty in ageing populations, there has been difficulty targeting this group in primary care.^{12, 13} It can be challenging to objectively distinguish the frail group from well elderly people and quantify their level of risk. While several well validated tools for measuring frailty have been presented,^14-16 few are used in routine medical care.¹²

This study demonstrates that for an elderly population, simple measures of physical health, mental health, quality of life, and general frailty, when administered as part of usual medical care are stronger predictors of death, transfer to a nursing home, and hospital admission when compared to traditional medical diagnoses. Consideration should be given to incorporating these measures into routine medical care.

View and download the paper here

Rosenberg T, Lattimer R, Montgomery P, Wiens C, Levy L. The relationship of SSRI and SNRI usage with interstitial lung disease and bronchiectasis in an elderly population: a case–control study. Clin Interv Aging. 2017;12:1977-1984
https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S144263

The association between interstitial lung disease (ILD) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSRI/SNRI) has been previously described in published case reports. However, its prevalence may be more common than expected. In this study, we examined the association between SSRI/SNRI usage and presence of ILD and or bronchiectasis (ILD/B) in an elderly population.

This study found that SSRIs and SNRIs were significantly associated with the risk of ILD/B in this elderly population, and suggests the value of further study in this area to validate these findings. As well, this study emphasizes the importance of cautious monitoring of patients by prescribers for development of insidious pulmonary symptoms when these drugs are used.

View and download the paper here

Rosenberg, T. (2012), Acute Hospital Use, Nursing Home Placement, and Mortality in a Frail Community-Dwelling Cohort Managed with Primary Integrated Interdisciplinary Elder Care at Home. J Am Geriatr Soc, 60: 1340-1346. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.03965.x

In Canada, for frail elderly adults living in the community, family physicians provide the majority of primary  care in a clinic setting without access to an integrated team of professionals. Many of these people cannot get to a physician’s office without difficulty, and the majority of physicians do not make house calls for ongoing care. In the last decade, there have been reports of programs that provide exclusively home-based primary care for frail seniors that have resulted in improvements in patient and caregiver satisfaction and quality of life and variable effects on hospital use. This article reports on a Canadian initiative to evaluate the effect of Primary Interdisciplinary Elder Care at Home (PIECH) on acute hospital use and mortality.

This study demostrates that an interdisciplinary, home-based primary care model has numerous potential features that make it an attractive model of care for elderly adults, their caregivers, providers, and the health care system. This evaluation shows that it may also save a substantial number of acute hospital days and facilitate home deaths.

View and download the paper here

Utilizing Valid, Reliable, and Practical Measures of Health Status in Interdisciplinary Geriatric Care: The Physiotherapist’s Role

Apr 25 – 27, 2024

The poster presented by HomeTeam Medical Service’s Laura Stewart at the Canadian Physiotherapy Association’s 2024 Congress describes how the physiotherapists in our interdisciplinary team use a variety of standardized measures as part of their practice. Three case studies are presented.

View and download the poster here

Utilizing Valid, Reliable, and Practical Measures of Health Status in Primary Geriatric Care: Translating Research into Usual Care with the Senior’s Health Assessment Report and Plan (SHARP™)

Nov 8 – 11, 2023

The poster presented at the Gerontological Society of America (2023) described the SHARP™ assessment and its development for new audiences and provided several case-based studies to demonstrate how this research has been translated into “usual care” for a primary home-based interdisciplinary geriatric medical practice.

After attending this session, participants will be able to

• better quantify health status and risk for frail seniors,
• explain to seniors how their health status and practices impact risks for death, nursing home transfer, and hospital admission, and
• determine how individual clinical health status measures can be used for program planning and evaluation.

View and download the poster here

Utilizing Valid, Reliable, and Practical Measures of Health Status in Primary Geriatric Care: Translating Research into Usual Care with the Senior’s Health Assessment Report and Plan (SHARP™)

Sep 20 – 22, 2023

View and download the poster here

On April 17, 2024, Dr. Rosenberg participated in the BC Public Sector Pension Conference on the topic of delaying frailty and extending the healthspan of individuals – even in later life.

On April 6, 2024, Dr. Rosenberg facilitated a workshop about patient-centered care as part of Dying With Dignity Canada’s (DWDC) Victoria Community Forum.  DWDC is a national human-rights charity committed to improving quality of dying, protecting end-of-life rights, and helping people across Canada avoid unwanted suffering.