Many geriatric patients are discharged from acute hospitalization, exhibiting functional decline. This acute functional decline constitutes a reason for the patient to be considered for an admission to the rehabilitation ward. The inpatient rehabilitation process is particularly challenging for these complex patients. This process requires medical skills to be able manage the medical complications in relation with co-morbidities, along with geriatric skills to be able to cope with various geriatric syndromes (polymedication, denutrition, cognitive disorder, and falls). Finally, some know-how in rehabilitation medicine is also required to be able to supervise a specific rehabilitation process (weight bearing and resistance exercises, dysphagia, incontinence rehabilitation, or orthotics and prosthesis).
A co-management model associating a geriatrician and physical medicine specialists is a possible approach to address this complex issue. In this paper, we further describe this co-management model, along with our particular experience at Valida hospital in this field.
Key Words
Co-management, rehabilitation, geriatrics
What is already known about the topic?
If the functional impairment is acute, elderly patients who are either frail or suffer from cognitive decline and significant comorbidities are likely to benefit from a rehabilitation therapy.
What does this article bring up for us?
Using co-management geriatric-rehabilitation medicine is a means of facing important challenges, such as taking simultaneously care of medical problems, comprehensive geriatric assessments, and rehabilitation therapy in elderly patients. The rehabilitation of an elderly patient exhibits proper characteristics that differ from those of a classic rehabilitation.