here are many misconceptions regarding this specialty. Many general physicians do not appreciate the concept of a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and are inclined to believe that geriatric medicine is no different from the practice of general medicine. It is not considered relevant to teach geriatric medicine to the undergraduates in medical schools in many developing countries with low life...

INTRODUCTION Acutely ill elderly medical patients have a higher chance of survival if they are admitted to a specialised geriatric unit instead of a general medical unit. This was shown in a meta-analysis from 2011 which included more than 10,000 elderly patients. The best effect of geriatric intervention is seen when patients are selected carefully. The patients' need for geriatric interventio...

Ignatz Nascher first proposed disease and medical care of the aged as a separate specialty and invented the term “geriatrics” in 1909. However, the growth of geriatric medicine and healthcare of the elderly is often attributed to the pioneering work of Majorie Warren who successfully treated and rehabilitated seemingly hopeless elderly patients in the UK in the 1930s. British geriatric medicine...

BACKGROUND More than half of the hospitalized older adults discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have more than 3 geriatric syndromes. Pharmacotherapy may be contributing to geriatric syndromes in this population. OBJECTIVES Develop a list of medications associated with geriatric syndromes and describe their prevalence in patients discharged from acute care to SNFs. DESIGN Literat...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES We addressed a lack of geriatric content in our third-year family medicine clerkship. Adding this content posed a challenge in that students are dispersed to clinical sites across New England. Our goal was to promote student skill in functional assessment of elderly patients. METHODS We used multiple formats: a workshop, a small-group case discussion, an online video...

INTRODUCTION A comprehensive geriatric assessment systematically collects information on geriatric conditions and is propagated in oncology as a useful tool when assessing older cancer patients. OBJECTIVES The objectives were: (a) to study the prevalence of geriatric conditions in cancer patients aged ≥ 65 years, acutely admitted to a general medicine ward; (b) to determine functional decline...

We analysed the characteristics of patients aged 75 and over admitted to the geriatric and general medical wards over a three month period in a teaching hospital. Patients admitted to the geriatric wards were slightly older, were more often female, more likely to be admitted during the day and during a week day, more likely to have been seen by their own general practitioner, had more chronic a...

BACKGROUND The effects of the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) have never been investigated in older patients dying in acute geriatric hospital wards and its content and implementation have never been adapted to this specific setting. Moreover, the LCP has recently been phased out in the UK hospitals. For that reason, this study aims to develop a new care programme to improve care in the last days ...