Processing of Medical Information in Aging Patients: Cognitive and Human Factors Perspectives

This volume focuses on understanding the impact of age-related decline in cognitive abilities on medical decisions and compliance with medical instructions. It examines how medical information and the medical environment can be restructured to accommodate the decreased cognitive function associated with aging. Although the issues discussed in this book are of critical importance in providing effective health care, they have been largely neglected in the national debate over provision of health care for the increasingly aging population. It is essential that we begin to understand how to present information so that informed choices are made and patients comprehend well enough that they can follow their treatment regimens and understand the importance of those regimens.

Divided into four major sections, this volume addresses the following issues:

• the implications of cognitive aging for medical information processing;

• aging and medical decision making;

• aging and medication adherence; and

• human factors design for medical devices and instructions.