Information about Geriatric

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.

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

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.

External links

Medicine is the science and "" of maintaining and/or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. The term is derived from the Latin ars medicina meaning the art of healing.
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Gerontology is the study of aging. It is distinguished from geriatrics, which is the branch of medicine that studies the diseases of the elderly.

Gerontology covers the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging.
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In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common origin. They may occur within a language, such as shirt and skirt as two English words descended from the Proto-Indo-European word *sker-, meaning "to cut". They may also occur across languages, e.g.
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A primary care physician, or PCP, is a physician who provides both the first contact for a person with an undiagnosed health concern as well as continuing care of varied medical conditions, not limited by cause, organ system, or diagnosis.
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A general practitioner (GP), family physician or family practitioner (FP) is a medical doctor who provides primary care. A GP/FP treats acute and chronic illnesses, provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes.
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Internal medicine is the branch and specialty of medicine concerning the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases in adults, especially of internal organs. Doctors of internal medicine
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Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (also spelled orthopaedics, see below) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic, and overuse injuries and other disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
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Osteoporosis
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 M 80. -M 82.
ICD-9 733.0

DiseasesDB 9385

eMedicine med/1693   ped/1683
MeSH D010024 Osteoporosis is a disease of bone leading to an increased risk of fracture.
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Dimentia
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 F 00. -F 07.
ICD-9 290 - 294

DiseasesDB 29283
MedlinePlus 000739

Dementia (from Latin de- "apart, away" + mens (genitive mentis
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Depression
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 F 32. , F 33.
ICD-9 296

OMIM 608516
DiseasesDB 3589
MedlinePlus 003213
eMedicine med/532  

Clinical depression (also called major-depressive disorder, or
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Physical therapy (or physiotherapy[1]) is the provision of services to people and populations to develop, maintain and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout the lifespan.
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Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R), or physiatry, is a branch of medicine dealing with functional restoration of a person affected by physical disability. A physician who has completed training in this field is referred to as a physiatrist (fizz eye' a trist).
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Incontinence is used in Medicine and Philosophy.

Medicine

Incontinence is the lack of voluntary control of excretory functions; the term is a contraction of a complete expression, such as "incontinence of urine" or "incontinence of feces".
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Dimentia
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 F 00. -F 07.
ICD-9 290 - 294

DiseasesDB 29283
MedlinePlus 000739

Dementia (from Latin de- "apart, away" + mens (genitive mentis
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Instability in systems is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds. Not all systems that are not stable are unstable; systems can also be marginally stable or exhibit limit cycle behavior.
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Location New Haven
Beds 944 including 201 for Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital and 76 for Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital
Affiliation Yale School of Medicine
Certification Level I
Speciality General
Founded 1826

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Aging in place is growing older without having to move.[1]

According to the Journal of Housing for the Elderly, it is not having to move from one's present residence in order to secure necessary support services in response to changing needs.
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An aging-associated disease is a disease that is seen with increasing frequency with increasing senescence. Aging-associated diseases do not refer to age-specific diseases, such as the childhood diseases chicken pox and measles.
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The Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy (CCGP) is a non-profit organization which has established a national voluntary certification program for pharmacists. The focus of the certification program is "geriatric pharmacy practice.
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Elderly care or simply eldercare is the fulfillment of the special needs and requirements that are unique to senior citizens. This broad term encompasses such services as assisted living, adult day care, long term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and Alzheimer's care.
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Gero-informatics (sometimes termed Geroinformatics) is the development, application, and study of health informatics in geriatrics. Whereas gerontechnology refers to "matching technological environments to health, housing, mobility, communication, leisure and work of older people",
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Life extension refers to an increase in maximum or average lifespan, especially in humans, by slowing down or reversing the processes of aging. Average lifespan is determined by vulnerability to accidents and age-related afflictions such as cancer or cardiovascular disease.
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Health science is the applied science dealing with health, and it includes many subdisciplines. See also health science academic disciplines.

There are two approaches to health science: the study and research of the human body and health-related issues to understand
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Medicine is the science and "" of maintaining and/or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. The term is derived from the Latin ars medicina meaning the art of healing.
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Advanced Practice Nurses (APN), also known as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), are Registered Nurses with advanced education, knowledge, skills, and scope of practice.
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Chiropractic (from Greek chiros and praktikos meaning "done by hand") is a health care profession whose purpose is to diagnose and treat mechanical disorders of the spine and musculoskeletal system with the intention of affecting the nervous system and improving
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Audiology (from Latin: audire, "to hear"; and from Greek: and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the branch of Science that studies hearing, balance and related disorders.
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Academy of Comprehensive Esthetics http://www.ACEsthetics.com
  • American Academy of Implant Dentistry Advancing the standard of care for comprehensive implant dentistry since 1951.
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  • A dietitian (sometimes spelled dietician) is an expert in food and nutrition. Dietitians help promote good health through proper eating. They also supervise the preparation and service of food, develop modified diets, participate in research, and educate individuals and
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