A geriatric patient is usually older than 70 years old. As a rule, he or she has one or more chronic diseases and often an acute disease as well, impairing his or her self-care performance and making acute hospital referral neceessary. Such patients need immediate diagnosis and treatment of their underlying medical disorders in order to prevent further functional deterioration. The risk of a permanent or long-lasting state of helplessness increases dramatically if appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic measures are delayed. A geriatrician must have a holistic perspective.
Geriatric patients do often suffer from several diseases and use many different medicines.
The doctor has to consider the broad spectrum of health-related problems in order to give appropriate help. Narrowing the perspective to one single disease or one single organ is clearly inappropriate. The doctor must also work concurrently with the patient's physical, psychological and social situation. G eriatrics is collaborative and multiprofessional. No single profession can give high-quality help to older patients with complex health problems.