As anyone gets older, they begin experiencing more and more infections and ailments affecting their bodies. The older you get, body cells are dying than forming. This results in a weakened immune system prone to attack by different diseases that you could not contract when younger and more vigorous. Your body has also undergone much wear-and-tear, meaning your body can no longer take care of itself as before without assistance. This has led to the emergence of geriatric Chamblee medicine. Read on to learn more about geriatrics and what it is all about.
What is Geriatric Medicine?
Geriatrics is a field of medicine that puts its primary focus on health care for older people. It mainly aims at improving health care through prevention, treatment, and management of disabilities and diseases in older persons.
There is no fixed age in which it is the minimum for you to seek health care from a geriatrician. The need for a geriatrician is solely determined by the conditions affecting the patient, the particular health care needs they may require, and the availability of the specialist.
Geriatric physicians are primary physicians who have completed medical school and associated residencies. They have also acquired additional training to get the Certificate of Added Qualifications in geriatric medicine.
They have advanced knowledge in the aging process, drug therapy in seniors, the impact of aging on illness patterns, health maintenance, and rehabilitation. Their various roles include long-term care, terminal care, hospital care, and home care. They work closely with other professionals like pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and therapists to discuss ethical consultations concerning older adults’ unique health and disease patterns.
Aging results in an irreversible, inevitable failure in organ function, which happens over time even without the influence of illness, injury, poor lifestyle choices, or environmental risks.
Initially, organ function changes do not affect the baseline function as they only reduce the ability of each organ to function under stress. The weakest link systems include the renal, central nervous, and cardiovascular systems.
Diseases interact with the aging effects to result in geriatric syndromes mainly found in the weakest link systems, even if these organs are not those affected by the ailment. These syndromes include:
· Urinary tract infections
· Delirium complicating pneumonia
· Dizziness and falling
· Urinary incontinence
· Syncope
· Weight loss
Aging organs are more prone to getting injuries like intracranial hemorrhage. The aging effects should be considered when diagnosing and treating older adults. Physicians should not:
· Mistake diseases like dementia to pure aging
· Mistake pure aging symptoms like poor information retrieval for disease
· Forget that older adults often have many underlying conditions like diabetes that increase the risk for harm
· Ignore the heightened risk-averse drug effects may have due to stress by the ailment
Clinicians should look for diseases common among older patients when diagnosing. Older patients require special attention and care when dealing with their conditions as they may not be in the right mental state to take care of themselves. Their needs are delicate, requiring many daily medications to be taken. To be better informed on geriatrics, visit or call our offices in Chamblee, GA.