Geriatrics

Geriatrics is the branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life. The term itself can be distinguished from gerontology, which is the study of the aging process itself. The term comes from the Greek geron meaning "old man" and iatros meaning "healer", and was proposed in 1909 by Dr. Ignatz Leo Nascher. It is cognate with Jara in Sanskrit which also means old.

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Scope

In the United States, geriatricians are primary care physicians who are board-certified in either family practice or internal medicine and have also acquired the additional training necessary to obtain the Certificate of Added Qualifications (CAQ) in geriatric medicine.

In the United Kingdom, most geriatricians are hospital physicians, while some focus on community geriatrics. While originally a distinct clinical specialty, it has been integrated as a specialism of general medicine since the late 1970s.^[1] Most geriatricians are therefore accredited for both. Specialized geriatrics services include orthogeriatrics (close cooperation with orthopedic surgery and a focus on osteoporosis and rehabilitation), psychogeriatrics (focus on dementia, depression and other conditions common in the elderly), and rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation may also take in intermediate care, where patients are referred by a hospital or family doctor, when there is a requirement to provide hospital based short term intensive physical therapy aimed at the recovery of musculoskeletal function, particularly recovery from joint, tendon, or ligament repair and, or, physical medicine and rehabilitation care when elderly patients get out of synch with their medication resulting in a deterioration of their personal health which reduces their ability to live independently.

History

Modern geriatrics in the United Kingdom really began with the "Mother" of Geriatrics, Dr. Marjorie Warren. Warren emphasised that rehabilitation was essential to the care of older people. She took her experiences as a physician in a London Workhouse infirmary and developed the concept that merely keeping older people fed until they died was not enough- they needed diagnosis, treatment, care and support. She found that patients, some of whom had previously been bedridden, were able to gain some degree of independence with the correct assessment and treatment.

The practice of geriatrics in the UK is also one with a rich history of multidisiplinary working, valuing all the professions, not just medicine, for their contributions in optimising the well being and independence of older people.

Another "hero" of British Geriatrics is Bernard Isaacs, who described the "giants" of geriatrics: incontinence, immobility, impaired intellect and instability.^[2] Isaacs asserted that if you look closely enough, all common problems with older people relate back to one of these giants.

The care of older people in the UK has been forwarded by the implementation of the National Service Frameworks for Older People, which outlines key areas for attention.^[3]

Current trends

Perhaps the most pressing issue facing geriatrics is the treatment and prevention of delirium. This is a condition in which hospitalized elderly patients become confused and disoriented when confronted with the uncertainty and confusion of a hospital stay. The health of the patient will decline as a result of delirium and can increase the length of hospitalization and lead to other health complications. The treatment of delirium involves keeping the patient mentally stimulated and oriented to reality, as well as providing specialized care in order to ensure that their needs are being met.

The Hospital Elder Life Program, HELP, is a system that was created at Yale New Haven Hospital and has been introduced to several hospitals. The goal of the program is to prevent delirium and thus improve the quality of care provided to the elderly. Yale New Haven Hospital has since developed HELP into the more comprehensive Elder Horizons Program, whose goals in addition to preventing delirium include maintenance of mobility and of functional and cognitive states.

Pharmacology

Pharmacological constitution and regimen for older people is an important topic, one which is related to changing and differing physiology and psychology.

Changes in physiology with aging and may alter the absorption, the effectiveness and the side effect profile of many drugs. These changes may occur in the gastrointestinal system, in the distribution of drugs with changes in body fat and muscle and drug elimination.

Another area of importance is the potential for improper administration and usage of potentially inappropriate medications, and possibility of errors which result in dangerous drug interactions. One other important consideration is that of elderly persons (particularly those experiencing substantial problems of memory loss or other types of cognitive impairment) being able to adequately monitor and adhere to their own scheduled pharmacological administration. One study found that 25% of participants studied admitted to skipping doses or cutting them in half. Self-reported noncompliance with adherence to medication schedule was reported by a one-third of the participants.

See also

• Aging in Place
• Aging-associated diseases
• Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy
• Elderly care
• Gero-Informatics
• Life extension

Notes

1. ^ Barton & Mulley 2003
2. ^ Isaacs 1965
3. ^ Department of Health Older People's information

References

• Barton A, Mulley G. History of the development of geriatric medicine in the UK. Postgrad Med J 2003;79:229-34. Fulltext. PMID 12743345.
• Cannon, K.T., Choi, M.M., Zuniga, M.M. (2006). Potentially inappropriate medication use in elderly patients receiving home health care: a retrospective data analysis. The American Journal of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy, 4, 134-143.
• Gidal, B.E. (2006). Drug Absorption in the Elderly: Biopharmaceutical Considerations for the Antiepileptic Drugs. Epilepsy Research, 68S, S65-S69.
• Hutchison, L.C., Jones, S.K., West, D.S., Wei, J.Y. (2006). Assessment of Medication Management by Community-Living Elderly Persons with Two Standardized Assessment Tools: A Cross-Sectional Study. The American Journal of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy, 4, 144-153.
• Isaacs B. An introduction to geriatrics. London: Balliere, Tindall and Cassell, 1965.