title: [The old person--a trouble patient?].
abstract: Persons well advanced in years suffer from constantly increasing polypathia, loss of performance and loss of functions. At the same time the demands of an ever more quickly changing society grow. Society hardly cares for the elderly, the handicapped and disabled. Often, these people are regarded as a burden, a fact that they are very well aware of. When the usual patterns of communication fail, physicians may become impatient and are, as a consequence, perceived as intimidating and indifferent by the patient. In this way the physician initiates a vicious circle, which often leads to a complete failure in communication. This is by no means surprising, as the art of communication and its fundamental significance for the physicians and their work have still not found entry into medical curricula. As long as physicians define their very old patients exclusively in terms of their increasing physical weaknesses, their task can only be restricted to improving patients' weakened condition to a very limited extent. The patient well advanced in years is thus not recognized as an individual person with feelings, worries and desire desire to find a meaning in life.
authors.affiliation: marina.kojer@chello.at
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojer
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001317:Austria; D003142:Communication; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012928:Social Desirability