Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment for Elderly Orthopedic Inpatients Consulted by Geriatric Medicine in a Hospital.
10.4235/jkgs.2014.18.4.213
- Author:
Go Eun KIM
1
;
Sunyoung KIM
;
Chang Won WON
;
Hyun Rim CHOI
;
Byung Sung KIM
;
Yoon Je CHO
Author Information
1. Department of Family Medicine, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. chunwon62@dreamwiz.com
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Geriatric assessment;
Orthopedics;
Aged
- MeSH:
Activities of Daily Living;
Aged*;
Aging;
Delirium;
Dementia;
Depression;
Diagnosis;
Geriatric Assessment*;
Humans;
Inpatients*;
Medical Records;
Orthopedics*;
Physical Examination
- From:Journal of the Korean Geriatrics Society
2014;18(4):213-220
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: With a rapidly aging population, more elderly patients are being hospitalized than before. Thus, a comprehensive geriatric assessment medium is needed to carefully evaluate geriatric patients. The author's university hospital has a geriatric medicine team to where patients are referred for comprehensive evaluations. Their services will be introduced here. METHODS: From December 2010 to January 2012, the team performed comprehensive geriatric assessments comprising of a thorough review of systems, physical examination, and surveys, and reviewed past medical records of the elderly hospitalized patients aged 65 or over, referred from the Department of Orthopedics. RESULTS: Of total 58 patients, 4 patients (6.9%) had severe dysfunction in the activities of daily living with the score of 16 or higher. Twenty-two patients (73.3%) had cognitive impairment or dementia upon assessing cognitive function after excluding those previously diagnosed with dementia or those within 5 days after surgery, thus predisposed to delirium who had tested mini mental state examination for cognitive function level test. Fifteen patients (31.3%) had mild depression, while four (8.3%) had moderate depression; and 37 patients (67.3%) were at moderate risk and five (9.1%) were at high risk for developing delirium. CONCLUSION: A comprehensive evaluation of the functional status of elderly hospitalized patients was helpful in detecting medical problems other than the initial diagnosis. A significant proportion of the elderly patients we assessed were suspected to have cognitive impairment.
