The progressive growth in the number of older adults worldwide has led to a modification of the current healthcare scenario and a parallel increase in the use of public resources. In this book, we propose a conceptual framework within which aging, frailty, and care are analyzed through the lens of complexity medicine. Therefore, we present a multidimensional perspective that takes into account biomedical, (neuro)psychological, and socio-ecological vulnerability. The theses presented are the result of an inductive approach, based on many years of experience in the field, which has made it possible to identify strategies for frailty recognition and effective responses even in complicated clinical settings. The book is intended to be a tool of concrete and easy consultation, rich in reflections and suggestions.

The leading reference in the field of geriatric care, Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, 8th Edition, provides a contemporary, global perspective on topics of importance to today's gerontologists, internal medicine physicians, and family doctors. An increased focus on frailty, along with coverage of key issues in gerontology, disease-specific geriatrics, and complex syndromes specific to the elderly, makes this 8th Edition the reference you'll turn to in order to meet the unique challenges posed by this growing patient population. - Consistent discussions of clinical manifestations, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and more make reference quick and easy. - More than 250 figures, including algorithms, photographs, and tables, complement the text and help you find what you need on a given condition. - Clinical relevance of the latest scientific findings helps you easily apply the material to everyday practice. - A new chapter on frailty, plus an emphasis on frailty throughout the book, addresses the complex medical and social issues that affect care, and the specific knowledge and skills essential for meeting your patients' complex needs. - New content brings you up to date with information on gerontechnology, emergency and pre-hospital care, HIV and aging, intensive treatment of older adults, telemedicine, the built environment, and transcultural geriatrics. - New editor Professor John Young brings a fresh perspective and unique expertise to this edition.

Frailty is considered a multisystem impairment that makes an individual vulnerable to external or internal stressors. Sarcopenia, the age-dependent loss of muscle mass and function, is proposed as the biological substrate and the pathway whereby the consequences of physical frailty develop. These syndromes are associated with a negative impact in quality of life and can lead to the occurrence of disability, institutionalization, and even mortality. The book focuses upon all the related aspects of frailty and sarcopenia and the new advancements in the related treatments including complex issues and research. It includes high-quality chapters in all related aspects for the syndromes of sarcopenia and frailty, which adversely affect the function and overall effectiveness of the musculoskeletal system and interventions to promote rehabilitation.

This book summarizes evidence on frailty and ageing, how this may impact patient outcomes and how frailty can be assessed, managed and incorporated in the decision-making process for older patients with cancer. The book aims to: empower clinical teams to assess and support older cancer patients with frailty, ideally within a multidisciplinary setting; and to improve the selection of older cancer patients to the most appropriate management/treatment strategies in order to improve the outcomes of this group of patients often underrepresented in research. The reader will learn the methods available for assessing frailty, such as screening tools, but also how to perform different geriatric assessments covering the different key components (physical, nutritional, social, psychological, etc.). The book also provides information on how to manage and intervene on frailty with the role of pre-habilitation and re-habilitation, how to set-up specialised teams and pathways within one’s hospital and community for these older cancer patients with frailty. Finally, the management of this challenging group of patients according to the cancer type is discussed in detail, alongside with mapping the unmet research needs and future directions in this field.

Frailty is a condition/phenotype of decreased functional capacities across multiple bio-physiological indicators as a person ages. Older adults, in many instances, can suffer from frailty syndromes and their consequence of poor health, including e.g. increased risk of falls, disabled mobility, etc. The appropriate characterization of frailty and its related physical and mental components is thus of great importance to help predict the risk of frailty syndromes, and to optimize management and rehabilitation programs. The ultimate goals is to minimize the burden of frailty in older adults. The frailty syndromes are generally measured by using different established protocols, such as Fried’s Frailty Criteria, and conceptualized by simply accumulating the measured syndromes. Recent research works have shown that frailty not only arises from diminished physical function, but also from multiple other types of functional decline, such as cognitive impairment, and abnormalities in vascular system (e.g., hypertension). Moreover, these conditions are not distinct or isolated from each other, but closely interact and interconnected. These interactions may play critical roles in the development of frailty. Therefore, it is worthwhile to re-conceptualize “frailty” by implementing advanced technologies to measure the characteristics of functions that are pertaining to frailty, and to explore the inter-relationships between them. Thus, we can discover novel indicators to predict frailty and can develop novel strategies to optimize the management and rehabilitation of frailty. The overall goal of this research topic is to share and discuss recent achievements on understanding the pathology of frailty and its related bio-physiological characteristics, to identify novel indicators that can help predict the incidence of frailty, and to help optimize strategies for the prevention and management of frailty in aging population.

Evidence-Based Practice of Palliative Medicine is the only book that uses a practical, question-and-answer approach to address evidence-based decision making in palliative medicine. Dr. Nathan E. Goldstein and Dr. R. Sean Morrison equip you to evaluate the available evidence alongside of current practice guidelines, so you can provide optimal care for patients and families who are dealing with serious illness. - Consult this title on your favorite e-reader with intuitive search tools and adjustable font sizes. Elsevier eBooks provide instant portable access to your entire library, no matter what device you're using or where you're located. - Confidently navigate clinical challenges with chapters that explore interventions, assessment techniques, treatment modalities, recommendations / guidelines, and available resources - all with a focus on patient and family-centered care. - Build a context for best practices from high-quality evidence gathered by multiple leading authorities. - Make informed decisions efficiently with treatment algorithms included throughout the book.

The purpose of this book is to give providers of all levels a simple and essential source of practical information in treating the elderly trauma and emergency surgery patient. The Introduction instructs practitioners how to evaluate and assess risk including frailty and use this information in Goals of Care discussions to facilitate shared decision making so crucial to this population. The individual chapters consist of best practices and care guidelines from some of the most well-known thought leaders and best trauma centers in the country across the spectrum from geriatricians to trauma and acute care surgeons and nurses. Each chapter contains easy-to-read algorithms and references that the readers can use and adapt for their own setting. Chapters on Pre-hospital care will help guide EMS organizations and even systems in the right care and triage of the elderly. Each chapter also contains a Nursing Focus section for helpful nursing tips in caring for the elderly with those injuries and problems. These sections make this book a must-have for any center looking to improve its care of the elderly patient or just trying to be sure its care is already the best it can be. A special section on Post Acute Care will introduce the provider to the common issues surrounding particular disposition destinations for the elderly patient. This will facilitate discussions with families, case managers and facilities to help improve time to disposition.