Geriatrics and palliative care are distinct but overlapping specialties that focus on health care of elderly people and to improve quality of life. Geriatricians do plenty of palliative care as they make day-to-day decisions about treating complex medical illnesses and help with advanced care planning in the elderly. Having health care professional’s commonage the seriously ill patient improves quality of life, care and survival, and even lowers costs. Various organizations, including the European Association of Palliative Care and the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society have identified and provided examples from literature to palliative care practices for older people to help those involved in planning and supporting care-oriented services most appropriately and effectively.
The Geriatrics and Aging Processes Research Branch supports programs of research, research mid-career development, and resource development in the etiology, pathophysiology and course of mental disorders of late life, the relationships between aging and mental disorders, the treatment and recovery of persons with aging-related disorders, and the prevention of these disorders and their consequences. Disorders of research interest include mood, anxiety, and personality disorders, psychotic disorders and schizophrenia, psychiatric syndromes and behavioral disturbances in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, suicide, and neuroregulatory and homeostatic disorders associated with irregularities of sleep and eating. Perhaps the most pressing issue facing geriatrics is the treatment and prevention of delirium, a condition in which hospitalized elderly patients become confused and disoriented when confronted with the uncertainty and confusion of a hospital stay.
Currently and over the next decades most physicians will be caring for seriously ill elders with multiple co morbidities, lengthy duration of illness, and intermittent acute exacerbations interspersed with periods of relative stability. Abundant evidence suggests that most advanced stages of disease are characterized by inadequately treated physical distress; fragmented care systems; poor communication between doctors, patients, and families; and enormous strains on family caregiver and support systems.