FEATURE STORY
EVOLVING PATIENT CARE
B
ernice is an independent senior who takes a fall and gashes her arm. She is rushed to
hospital, treated and released. Neither her personal support worker nor her physician
is informed of the incident and no follow-up care is provided.
A year later she falls again. This time her hip is broken during the fall. She spends three days in
the emergency room until a space opens up at another hospital where she can undergo surgery.
The subsequent six months are spent in hospital recovering, during which time she contracts an
antibiotic resistant infection. Her health increasingly frail, Bernice decides to sell her home and
moves into a long-term care facility.
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FALL 2013