Background: Hip fractures are one of the most common causes for surgery in the elderly and the burden of care extends beyond the perioperative period as many are discharged to a long-term facility and have significant morbidity and mortality despite advances in perioperative care. To date, trials of interventions and standardized multidisciplinary hip fracture programs [...]

Background: Delirium, an acute cognitive disturbance prevalent in up to 58% of older hospitalized adults, poses serious health risks, longer hospital stays, and increased mortality (1). Identifying and screening for delirium is hindered by barriers such as limited awareness, inadequate education, and lack of prioritization among healthcare providers. This project aimed to gauge opportunities to [...]

Background: Older adults presenting with trauma have worse outcomes than younger adults with similar injury severity. In 2013, the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program published guidelines that recommended geriatrics consultation (GC) for high-risk older adults. Many trauma centers implemented GC in congruence with these guidelines, but the impact on patient outcomes is [...]

Background: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) initiative calls for providers to ensure that older adults move safely to maintain daily function. However, studies show that about a third of hospitalized older adults have bed rest orders, most of which are not medically indicated. Therefore, at our 537-bed community teaching hospital, we [...]

Case Presentation: A 90-year-old man with chronic kidney disease and benign prostatic hyperplasia presented with a 4-month history of persistent mucous diarrhea, abdominal pain, and a few episodes of enterorrhagia. On exam, vital signs were normal except for hypotension. He was in mild acute distress but alert and oriented. He had dry mucous membranes and [...]

Case Presentation: An 87yo woman with dementia presented with a large right adrenal mass consistent with pheochromocytoma with lymph node metastases based on biochemical testing and MIBG scan. Non-operative management with iobenguane-131 (Azedra) was considered because of her surgical risk. However, given her underlying dementia, comorbid conditions, and frailty, she was appropriately identified as high [...]