The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 59:M510 (2004)
© 2004 The Gerontological Society of America
Author's Response
Robert L. Kane, MD
University of Minnesota School of Public Health
Address correspondence to Robert L. Kane, MD, Long-Term Care and Aging, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Mayo Mail Code 197, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: kanex001{at}umn.edu
Dr. Rozzini and his colleagues make an excellent point. Professionals' personal experiences with the health and long-term care system should provide greater insights and improve practice. I agree that we can learn from them individually, but also believe that we should use them collectively to provide a basis for improving the way we deliver long-term care. The very fact that so many knowledgeable people with long records of working within the system nonetheless experience frustration when they have to use that very system strongly argues that the system is not user friendly.
The problem may be international, but such replication should not provide comfort. We have created a poor system in many countries, one that is out of step with the current needs of chronic illness. We should all pledge to not only learn from our individual experiences in trying to cope with it, but to band together to make it better. We need to adopt a national, perhaps an international, collective spirit of creative intolerance for the status quo.
