L'admission d'un couple polypathologique en USLDÂ : une approche multidimensionnelle et pluridisciplinaire

The care of an elderly couple in an institution requires a pluridisciplinary management of the situation encountered. On admission, it is important to establish the presence of comorbidity factors regarding the somatic and psychological aspects of this particular type of admission and the consequences of such factors on the couple's dynamics. Sickness and age have effects on the dynamics, separating and disrupting old relationships. What are the major clinical signs to take into consideration? Upon which register should we first and foremost intervene: the patients, the couple or the caring staff itself? Sickness cuts both ways. It estranges one from the other and reconfigures each one's role within the couple. This is very important for the caring team, when admitting a couple, to consider the care of each patient for what it is as well as the structure of the couple as an included third party in the caring process.