Doctors from any hospital department are now able to request a special consult for patients age 65 or older.
“As people live longer with chronic diseases, they have a greater risk of being hospitalized,” said Laurence Solberg, M.D., chief of the new Geriatrics Consult Service. “Hospitalized elders with geriatric syndromes have specific needs that a geriatrician is trained to assess and manage."
“The Geriatrics Consult service ensures this expertise is available to all doctors and patients in the hospital.”
Just imagine the benefits in areas like skin care, fall prevention and discharge planning.
1 comment:
That's a great idea. I try to get physical therapy, wound care, etc. involved for all of my geriatric hospitalist patients, but not all my colleagues do the same. If there was a separate geriatric service that made sure environmental controls were in place against delirium, foley catheters were removed asap, and rehabilitative efforts made from day one, I think we'd take much better care of our elders.
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