Physical Functioning and Preserving Quality-of-Life
One day while I was rounding in the hospital, a physician described her patient as having “the dwindles”. That wasn’t a medical term I’d encountered, nor have I heard others use it since, but I adopted the notion. In pediatrics, failure to thrive describes children who are not developing adequately. In adults, we don't compare growth and functioning from one visit to the next, failure to thrive is often missed until the patient has become frail.