What are the signs my parent is ready for long-term care?

What are the signs my parent is ready for long-term care?

Karl Steinberg (Associate Medical Director, Sharp Mission Park Medical Group) gives expert video advice on: What are the signs my parent is ready for long-term care?; What is the first thing I should do if I believe my parent needs long-term care?; Who can help me implement a long-term care plan for my parent? and more...

As far as trying to decide when a loved one is ready for transition to a long-term care setting, I guess there are a variety of indicators. I think its just one of those things, its kind of like pornography, you know what it is, you don't have a specific definition of it, but you know what it is when you see it. And when your parents are, lets say, I bet a big one would be leaving the stove on, right? That's when you know there is maybe a little bit of a danger. When they're having falls, I mean, they're only going to fall a certain number of times before they wind up fracturing a hip. That may be a pre-terminal event. When they are having trouble with forgetfulness and the forgetfulness is more than just, "oh, I can't remember where I laid my glasses," but its things that you can see might cause a problems. Driving is another big issue and I'd say the things that most frequently land people in long-term care settings are incontinence and wandering or the risk of somebody getting lost. Those are probably the two biggest things that might be a signal to you. Now if you don't mind taking care of your parent's incontinence, that's not necessarily a sign, but a lot of people sort of draw the line there.