The Issue of Senior Self-sufficiency after Hospitalization – a Field for Geriatrics or Social Work

Zuzana Vontorova

Medailon autorů:

Mgr. Zuzana Vontorová is a student in the 2nd year of the doctoral study programme of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies of the University of Ostrava in Ostrava. In her dissertation, she addresses the issue of social and health care of seniors after hospitalization.

Anotace:

Demographic aging of population brings a range of threats, which can acquire the character of a life crisis primarily in the elderly. These threats include limitation or loss of self-sufficiency. Illness and limitations of self-sufficiency often requires hospitalization of a senior, to provide him/her with geriatric care. But this is also a social event requiring the presence of a social worker. Complex care of elderly is impeded in the Czech Republic by the division of activity between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs. Seniors suffering from a lack of self-sufficiency appear to be the most vulnerable to the effects of departmentalism because strict separation affects both the termination of the hospitalization of the elderly as well as the aftercare. Sustainability of the quality and appropriateness of health and social services delivered requires a dedicated long-term care, such as the implementation of empirical research.

The present article describes the current state of system of the care of seniors with loss of self-sufficiency and dependent seniors in the Czech Republic. The text includes theoretical background of selected terms and focuses on the key issues within the state, which led to the formulation of the research objectives of the dissertation thesis by the author of the text.

Klíčová slova:

starší lidé, krize, nemoc, hospitalizace, ztráta soběstačnosti, copingové strategie, adaptace, sociální práce ve zdravotnictví, geriatrie, resortismus, dlouhodobé péče, empirický výzkum

s. 20–32