Geriatrics refers to the health care of older adults, an age group that is not easy to define precisely. Gerontology is the study of aging, including biological, sociological, and psychological changes. Elderly is a term used to describe older people, while geriatric refers to a specialized field of medicine and science. Despite being descriptive, “older people” can generalize excessively and lack the details that are often needed for both medical treatment and the investigation.
The term can also be used in a way that excludes patients from potentially important medical care. For that reason, some advocate stopping using the term clinically. Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty that focuses on addressing the unique health needs of older adults. The term geriatrics has its origin in the Greek, geriatric, geron, meaning old man, and iatros, meaning healer.
Its objective is to promote health through the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases in older adults. Older adults may be healthy, but they are more likely to have chronic health problems and to need more medical care. There is no definite age after which patients can be under the care of a geriatrician or a geriatric doctor, a doctor who specializes in caring for the elderly. Rather, this decision is guided by the individual needs of patients and the care structures available to them.
This care can benefit those who are managing multiple chronic conditions or who are experiencing significant age-related complications that endanger the quality of daily life. Geriatric care may be appropriate if care responsibilities become increasingly stressful or medically complex for family members and caregivers to manage independently. A surprising third of the participants reported that they did not meet the medication schedule, according to themselves. Unlike the United States, geriatric medicine is an important specialty in the United Kingdom and they are the most numerous specialists in internal medicine.
Likewise, while it is a specialized area of medicine in its own right, it is also multidisciplinary and encompasses many different areas of diagnosis and treatment. Laurencin, Coulter's professor in 2025, explains how he is tackling current medical challenges using the technology of the future. Consequently, “geriatrics is more likely to be used in medical and research settings than in a conversational form. An indicative mnemonic technique often used by geriatricians in the United States and Canada are the 5 M's of geriatrics, which describe the mind, mobility, multiple complexity, medications and issues that patients value more.
If you're looking for medical care that specializes in caring for the elderly or elderly, and that focuses more on preventing illness and injury, look no further than Rachman Medical Group. Training at some institutes is exclusive to the Department of Geriatric Medicine, with rotations in internal medicine, medical subspecialties, etc. Even in terms of age alone, regardless of other factors, older adults can vary significantly. Since most health care is dedicated to people over the age of 65, geriatrics, the medical treatment of older people, is a very important specialty.
In addition, the term is not often used to describe an individual, but rather to describe the entire field. In comparison, the word geriatrician refers to someone who practices geriatrics, that is, long-term care. It's important for people, both medical and non-medical, to understand the health care needs of older people. Another important area is the possibility of potentially inappropriate medications being administered and used inappropriately, as well as the possibility of errors being made that can cause dangerous drug interactions.
