RT Journal
A1 Shock NW
T1 THe older patient
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 1961
FD November 1
VO 108
IS 5
SP 803
OP 803
DO 10.1001/archinte.1961.03620110143021
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinte.1961.03620110143021
AB Dr. Johnson has assembled a group of 20 collaborators to assist in preparing a volume to supplement standard textbooks of medicine for the use of internists and general practitioners in caring for their elderly patients. The five chapters prepared by Dr. Johnson are lucidly written with sound advice based on his depth of knowledge and extensive experience with older patients. His approach is to regard the patient as an intelligent person who should be given a full explanation of his limitations without sugar-coated reassurances that "all is well." Dr. Johnson shows a fine perception of the psychological characteristics of older people and is especially mindful of the doctor-patient relationships in allaying or generating anxiety with regard to health. "If one uses the right words, it is possible to explain any illness to a patient without alarming him" (p. 57). Dr. Johnson emphasizes the development aspects of aging and indicates the