老年学と老年医学の研究

概要

End of Life Issues among the Elderly: Emerging Role of the Medical Social Workers

Oyinlola Oluwagbemiga *

The issue of end of life among the elderly is understudied by researchers and practitioners especially medical social workers. The end-of-life period is a period of when the body systems are shutting down and death is imminent, typically lasts from a matter of days to a couple of weeks among the elderly. The paper explored the emerging issue in caring for the elderly at the end of life stage. The paper x-rayed the emerging roles of the medical social workers. The paper recommends that, developing capacity of individuals (informal caregivers) networks will bridges the gap in absence of the primary caregiver to provision of comprehensive care planning for the elderly at the end of life stage.