Search

This book provides family doctors with a wealth of evidence-based indications and tips regarding geriatric medicine and approaches for the management of older patients, to be applied in daily practice. After discussing old and new features of healthy ageing and the approaches required in Family Medicine Consultation, the text introduces key elements of geriatric medicine such as frailty, sarcopenia, and the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), before describing a range of characteristics unique to older patients in different contexts, with a dedicated section on Palliative Care. The role of polypharmacy and the importance of quaternary prevention and deprescribing are also addressed. Finally, the book emphasizes both the importance of a humanistic approach in caring and the approach of research and meta-research in geriatrics. Though many texts explore the role of primary care professionals in geriatric medicine, the role of family doctors in older people care has not yet been clearly addressed, despite the growing burden of ageing, which has been dubbed the “silver tsunami.” Family physicians care for individuals in the context of their family, community, and culture, respecting the autonomy of their patients. In negotiating management plans with their patients, family doctors integrate physical, psychological, social, cultural and existential factors, utilizing the knowledge and trust engendered by repeated visits. They do so by promoting health, preventing disease, providing cures, care, or palliation and promoting patient empowerment and self-management.This will likely become all the more important, since we are witnessing a global demographic shift and family doctors will be responsible for and involved in caring for a growing population of older patients. This book is intended for family medicine trainees and professionals, but can also be a useful tool for geriatricians, helpingthem to better understand some features of primary care and to more fruitfully interact with family doctors.

Dieses Buch setzt sich in einer erweiterten und aktualisierten Neuauflage mit dem Thema des Älterwerdens und den daraus resultierenden Änderungen der Befindlichkeit auseinander. Nach einleitenden Kapiteln über grundlegende Aspekte der Lebensqualität, Lebensstil und Bedürfnisse, demographische Prognosen, biologische Grundlagen des Alterns und über verschiedene im Alter oft auftretende Krankheitssymptome werden moderne Therapieformen häufiger Alterskrankheiten dargestellt. Weitere Kapitel sind der Behandlung der krankheits- und therapiebedingten Beschwerden und Nebenwirkungen und der Vorbeugung altersbedingter Leiden gewidmet. Ausführlich wird eine umfassende Studie zu Schmerz im Alter dargestellt. Ergänzt wurden in der Neuauflage Kapitel zur Verhaltenstherapie, Spiritualität, Gedächtnistraining, Harninkontinenz und Chemotherapie im Alter. Das Buch wendet sich an Ärzte, die ältere Menschen behandeln, Pflegekräfte in der Langzeitbetreuung als auch Betroffene und Angehörige.