We can do better: Addressing ageism against older adults in healthcare

Abstract

Ageism in healthcare is a pervasive reality that leads to negative health outcomes for older adults. While it is often implicit, the COVID-19 pandemic threw explicit age discrimination in healthcare into sharp relief globally. In medicine, ageism translates into myriad forms of age discrimination that impact the provision of ethical care and range from ‘micro’ individual issues like paternalistic medicine or therapeutic nihilism to ‘macro’ system issues including barriers to timely and effective healthcare or exclusion from research trials. The culture of ageism in medicine can be unintentionally transmitted through role-modelling and the hidden curriculum. Strategies to combat ageism and provide ethical healthcare include intergenerational learning, educational programs, and strong leadership from organizations to enact policy and practice changes.

Disparities in postoperative complications and perioperative events based on insurance status following elective spine surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Such ageism is rooted in negative societal attitudes that are perpetuated by messaging in media [46] , individual experiences with elderly, and even fear of death [ 47 , 48 ]. Such prejudice can result in healthcare professionals treating the elderly unequally or limiting access to health-care resources and shared decision making [49] . This can explain the significant increase in NRD among Medicare patients in our results, as elderly patients may not receive sufficient health resources to warrant a home discharge.…”

Healthcare Professionals’ Views and Perspectives towards Aging

“…Concomitantly, there is extensive documentation in the literature delineating the ways by which ageism leads to restricting older person’s access to healthcare services [ 5 ]. Limits to access have not been exclusive to services but also to clinical trials involving potentially life-saving treatment, as previously noted [ 20 ]. Thus, there is growing concern about ageism amongst healthcare workers and the impact it has on patient outcomes [ 4 ].…”

Functional decline risks becoming the acopia of the 21st century

“…perpetuating ageism in healthcare delivery must be explored. 6 Together, these systems foster brief and superficial assessment of older adults for presentations involving complex interactions of chronic disease with reversible factors. 6 Such presentations should instead pique curiosity.…”

“…6 Together, these systems foster brief and superficial assessment of older adults for presentations involving complex interactions of chronic disease with reversible factors. 6 Such presentations should instead pique curiosity. The physician is invited to think expansively, not reductively, and use a range of tools to navigate a matrix of interacting contributors.…”

“…'social admission'). 6 These terms fail to address the causes of people's changed circumstances, who therefore have no chance of improving their health or quality of life. A deeper exploration of the healthcare inequalities masked by these terms would allow an honest accounting of how people's lives are affected by their perceived worth in society and their available human and economic resources.…”